Made of Honor
by RuneDraconis1080
Summary: A surprising friendship forms between Hermione Granger and the prankster/playboy Fred Weasley after an eventful night, and nine years later they're as close as best friends could possibly be. However, when Hermione leaves to work with MACUSA in New York for three months, Fred realises that he wants more- but to win her heart might be more of a challenge than he had first expected!
1. Prolouge

**A/N:** _Hello dear friends, and welcome to my new Fremione fanfic._

 _This story is heavily inspired by the movie 'Made of Honor' (2008) with Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan as the main characters, however I have of course tried to adapt this to the best of my abilities to fit in the Harry Potter-universe. If you've seen the movie you pretty much know the plot-line but I can assure you that not everything will follow the original and hopefully you'll think this is a fun and interesting take on it._

 _I have two things that I would like for you to keep in mind though, one - I know that Hermione (and perhaps other characters to come) will be slightly OoC but I promise you that I always try to stay true to how J K Rowling (and occasionally Warner Brothers, and Emma Watson) portrayed her, as well as my own interpretation of her, two - I cannot promise you that I will update regularly but I have the whole plot figured out and I hate to leave things unfinished, which is why it's taken me since 2012 (when I first got the idea of doing this fanfic.) until now to actually write it down and upload it._

 _I love reviews so you're more than welcome to leave one if you like this story and if you have any remarks on my grammar or anything like that I'd love it if you could please tell me so I can correct any mistakes. I just want to do my best to try to share this story with all of you and hopefully you'll enjoy it!_

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own the movie 'Made of Honor', this is just me having some fun with the characters.

* * *

 _New years 1998/1999_

Frederick Gideon Weasley was drunk. Incredibly so. Not that it was anything wrong with that, it was New Year's after all and he had, along with his Partner-In-Crime and twin brother, arranged the biggest party of the year. Well at least the biggest so far in 1999 - it was a bit difficult to compete with the celebrations that occured after the fall of old Voldy. He wandered the still crowded rooms of the Burrow and once again smiled smugly about the fact that his parents at the last minute had decided to spend the week in Romania with his older brother Charlie. That's what happens when you announce that you have a girlfriend - Mum immediately just has to meet her and decide if she's good enough for one of her precious boys. One would think that she'd be this protective or more so over his youngest sibling and only sister Ginny but no, as long as she's dating the Boy-Who-Lived and the Boy-Who-Killed-The-Darkest-Lord-Of-All-Time - she's off the hook.

Anyway, even with such short notice everyone and their cousins had showed up to the party and it was bloody amazing!

He and George had of course put several of their edible products mixed in with the offered food, desserts and drinks and the fireworks they'd developed were just the icing on the cake. Brilliant they were.

Now he just wondered were the lovely Romilda Vane had run of to.

Smirking, he remembered whispering in her ear to meet him in Charlie and Bill's old bedroom on the third floor, since he knew that his own would be well occupied by his twin and his girlfriend Angelina Johnson and that was not something he'd like to witness - and Percy's room, that was also on the second floor next to George and his, was out of the question because nothing could kill the mood like being in that overly organized room. Yuck.

He stumbled and bumped into several people on the way to the stairs - most of them couples making out (his best friend Lee Jordan and Katie Bell, Ron and one of the Patil sisters) or people laughing at yet another successful prank (Neville Longbottom had turned completely blue from head to toe from eating one of their latest inventions - 'Time Fruit Change Toffee' - his idea) but he finally made it.

Why on earth did the stairs had to go in a circle? Once he was on the third floor his head was spinning and he had to take a few deep breaths before he opened the door to his brother's room.

 _It's time for a little action_ , he thought groggily.

" _Vane, where are you?_ " he quietly asked the black room. The moonlight provided enough light for him to finally notice a female figure laying in one of the beds.

"I'm coming missy, I've got a big surprise for you" he giggled, while taking off his shirt and trousers which had become incredibly tight in anticipation.

"Let's have some fun, Vane!"

He crawled in under the blanket and embraced the body from behind when-

"AAAAaaaaHh!"

The figure next to him moved around quickly and let out a scream. This startled him enough to also start shouting in confusion and together they were thrashing around in the bed trying to get away from each other. What the hell was going on?

Before he could react much more the woman had reached over him, grabbed her wand and he heard the words " _Oppugno_ " before he suddenly was attacked by several pillows beating him, knocking him to the floor.

"AAAaaHh! GET THEM OF ME! _GET THEM OF ME!_ BLOODY HELL!" He let out a string of curses and his arms were going everywhere trying to keep the bloody pillows from hitting his face and other precious body parts.

"FREDERICK GIDEON WEASLEY WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Had he not been too distracted he would have been able to recognize that reprimanding voice anywhere but in his drunk and confused state, along with the bloody pillows trying to kill him he was unable to concentrate.

"What happened?! where is Vane?!"

" _Why are you in here, Fred?!_ "

… Oh Merlin no, don't tell me-

"... _Granger?!_ "

"Crawling into a bed with a sleeping person is a new low, even for you Fred, _you idiot!_ "

"CAN YOU GET THE BLOODY PILLOWS TO STOP HITTING ME THAT WOULD BE NICE?!"

He heard her whisper the counter-curse and then several small thuds as the pillows hit the floor next to him.

"Why are you here, Granger?! _What the hell happened to Vane?!_ "

"Vane? _Romilda_ Vane? Why would I know anything about Romilda Vane's whereabouts? Clearly I was trying to get some sleep as I have to study tomorrow but my peaceful rest was rudely interrupted when you decided to grope me!"

She started hitting him with one of the pillows again.

"I didn't come here to grope you! I came here to grope Vane! No, not grope her but you know what I mean! Why aren't you in Ginny's room?!"

She let out a growl.

" _Your sister_ is currently busy making out with Harry on her bed so sleeping in there was out of the question and before you ask, no I would not go to Ronald's room. It would really give him the wrong impression if he found me sleeping in his bed so soon after our break up!"

He let out a groan and covered his face with his hands. All he'd wanted was to get laid but now the mood was dead. He realised that he was still only in his red briefs and when he removed his hands he could see a small blush on Granger's face when she too realised his undressed state. She on the other hand was wearing a proper flannel pyjamas (white with black polka dots on it) and her hair was ridiculously bushy and frizzy as usual.

"Oh well... I might as well have a cup of tea since I'm up... would you like some? You clearly don't need any more alcohol in your system."

Scrowling he sat up and was just about to protest and decline but then he noticed that the room was spinning so he swallowed his original answer and replaced it with a "Sure, why not."

She flicked her wrist and the tiny lamp on the nightstand turned on, and while he slowly moved from the floor onto the other bed he watched as she summoned a thermos with hot tea as well as two cups from her beaded bag on the nightstand. He'd not seen her without that bag since before taking off with Harry and Ron to go on their secret mission (they still refused to tell everyone the specifics on what they'd been up to) instead of going back to what was supposed to be their seventh year at Hogwarts.

His body was aching and he was certain he'd get some bruises from the pillow assault.

"I'm going to be so careful who I get into bed with from now on."

In response he saw how she rolled her eyes while pouring up the tea.

"That would be a big adjustment for you, wouldn't it?" she smirked, then handed over his cup before sitting down on the bed she'd previously been sleeping in, with her back against the wall and her legs close to her body.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he answered but he could tell that she didn't fall for his lie.

"The infamous Weasley twin, the prankster and womanizer who slept with at least half the girls in seventh year at Hogwarts. I'm sure you sullied all the broom closets and I know I caught you with your tongue down someones throat more times than I could possibly count on two hands."

"I was only enjoying a quick snog with them!" he protested but left out the fact that had they not been interrupted that would not be the case. With a crooked smile he then added "Besides, I assure you that I was a bit more creative than only using the broom closets, wanna hear about them?"

In his intoxicated state he hadn't noticed that he'd somehow moved to the same bed that she was sitting on and was now right next to her.

A small disapproving frown appeared on her face.

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Oh no, trust me. You're not my type."

"Yes of course. _I_ have a brain that I _actually use,_ and unlike the girls you're always after I don't need to have my legs wrapped around a man to feel good about myself."

He stared at her then let out a booming laugh. Was this really the same stuck-up Prefect Granger that used to yell at him for corrupting the innocent minds of first years at Hogwarts? Who knew she had a humorous bone in her body.

"Yeah, you remind me too much of Madam Pince. Or Mrs. Norris... So tell me Granger, what does miss Know-It-All do to feel good about herself?" he asked with hooded eyes. Merlin he was drunk.

She turned her head to look at him, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"You're offensive! And you're crazy. Seriously Weasley, get your mind out of the gutter."

"I was just asking! And I was being honest - You just have that stern librarian vibe."

She huffed, then turned her attention back to her tea.

"So how did you know it was me and not George that was getting into the bed next to you?"

He was genuinely curious, very few could tell them apart. Sure, George was missing an ear but she couldn't possibly have seen that in the dark room. Oh, and of course the scars on his back but she couldn't possibly have seen or felt them.

"You want me to be honest with you?"

"I believe honesty is the best policy." He could almost say it with a straight face but he knew she noticed the twitch in his features.

"Yeah, right. Prankster extraordinaire Frederick Weasley believes honesty is the best policy. Seems about right." She muttered. He smiled widely and held up his hands as if to show he gave up.

"Well, at least when it comes to girls! My profession is a completely different story."

She huffed again, then she surprised him with putting away her cup and turning her whole body in his direction.

"Fine. Honestly? I knew it was you and not George because I know how to tell you apart. Because even though you're twins there's still small things that make you different from each other. For example, one of you have slightly more defined muscles in your arms, hair that is just a tiny bit silkier than the others and a voice that is just a bit more relaxing. And clearly that is _not_ you. Upon closer inspection your nose is a tiny bit bigger and your upper lip's a tiny bit thinner, features that are accentuated by that ridiculous haircut of yours. Seriously you should either grow it out or cut it off, this middle thing is not working for you. And while I'm at it - I feel sorry for you that you have to validate yourself through insatiable-meaningless-ego-sport-sex, with insecure girls. I would never stoop so low to have sex with someone like you - and I've dated Ronald."

He stared at her in amazement while touching his hair and nose. No one had ever pointed out the differences between him and George so thoroughly before! And who was she to point out his hair, had she ever looked in a mirror before?

She suddenly moved to stand up and started walking towards the door and she was almost out in the hallway when he finally was able to move again and stumbled after her.

"Granger wait! That was bloody amazing!"

"What was?" Her voice was bored and tired.

"The honesty. No one except for George have ever been so honest with me before. It's refreshing!"

"It's called a _friend_ , don't you have hundreds of those? No wait, they're just _admirers_ right?"

He decided to ignore her question but continued to follow her down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, it's obvious that I won't get any sleep in Charlie and Bill's room so I decided to try Percy's. _Good night Fred_."

She opened the door and stepped inside only to turn around again to look at him with a smug smile on her face. He peeked inside.

There on Percy's bed was Romilda Vane.

"Freddy?" She was noticeably intoxicated, even more so than he was.

"Oh Freddy, I want-" Hiccup "-you" Hiccup "-take me on a broom ride?" He saw how her face twisted, then she threw up in one of Percy's precious cauldrons.

"She's all yours _'Friend'_." Hermione walked up the stairs again, still with the same smug smile in place. He turned to look at the inebriated girl who seemed to be seconds from passing out on Percy's bed. Nope, the mood was dead and even though his standards weren't that high he still liked the girls he was with to be conscious so they too could have a good time.

"Get some sleep, Vane."

He closed the door and followed Granger up the stairs, he was tired and hopefully she wouldn't hex him if he slept in the other bed.


	2. Chapter 1

_Nine years later_

February 4th 2008

A loud banging on his front door woke him up, followed by George's voice "Get up you wanker! You're late!"

He groaned and wished nothing else than to go back to sleep again since he was really tired from staying up late last night. Next to him the blond and curvy witch that occupied the right side of his bed stretched, giving him a pleasant view of her amazing figure, but before his imagination got the best of him he was able to turn his face away and proceeded to get up. He put on one of his favorite shirts and trousers and on top of that his work robes in the hideous magenta colour that clashed horribly with his ginger hair. A huge smile stretched across his face when he remembered that today was Thursday - his favourite day of the week!

He turned back to the blonde on his bed.

"When you're ready you can leave, just don't use the shower or-"

"- grab anything for breakfast, I know, I know." the blonde, Amy Frome - a Slytherin who were in the same year as him at Hogwarts - finished his sentence for him with an aspirated sigh.

"That is such a stupid rule, Weasley."

"Doesn't matter Frome, you know the rules." She crawled to the end of the bed and leaned up to wrap her arms around him but he was too busy trying to make himself presentable to return the embrace, and he didn't really care to anyways. She played with the collar on his robes while smiling flirtatiously.

"Can we do this again tonight?"

"You know I don't do two nights in a row."

He tried not to let his eyes travel down to her mouth when she bit her lip in an attempt to persuade him to change his mind, something she'd tried countless of times before without result, but of course they automatically settled on her delicious and full lips. But he had his rules and stuck to them religiously. And he did possess some self control.

"Honestly Fred" She dragged out his name in a purr "Can't you just break one of your stupid rules, _for me_?" She fluttered her eyelashes and kissed his neck.

"Sorry Frome, I don't break the rules. I have a rule about that." He captured her lips in a lazy kiss before breaking off and grabbed his wand from the floor.

"See you next week!" he said gleefully before apparating down to the shop.

Downstairs his twin immediately came to stand in front of him with his arms crossed in an attempt to show off his disapproval but an amused smile tugged at his lips.

"I cannot believe that I have to keep waking you up whenever you're late when you _literally_ live live on top of the shop!"

Fred laughed and lightly slapped his brothers shoulder.

"Come on, Gred! You're just jealous over the fact that I've turned our once shared flat into a Bachelor's Den while you're shackled down with a wife and kids! How's the family?"

He truly was happy that his twin had been able to find the perfect woman to marry and start a family with. Angie seemed to be the only woman on earth that could accept that he and George was like a package deal (well the only woman except for Mione) and Fred in turn understood that George now had a life outside of him. He was an amazing husband and father, and it was really entertaining to see him trying to be a responsible adult. Thankfully both Fred and 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' was there to keep him grounded and make sure he didn't change too much while also making sure that his kids - Fred II (7 years old) and Roxanne (5 years old) - grew up to carry on their mischievous ways.

He himself on the other hand had never felt the need to settle down. Why would he? His life was perfect! At the age of 29 he was still one of Britain's most handsome and eligible bachelors according to gossip magazines such as _Witch Weekly_ and _Spella Weekly_ and he could sleep with anyone he wanted whenever he wanted.

George shook his head but let out a small laugh.

"Get a move on you wanker! We better get started on finalizing our new Wonder Witch- product. Verity is taking care of the checkout and Ron is restocking products and helping customers so we should be able to get some work done before you take off for the day."

He felt his twin grab him by his arm directing him towards the back door that lead to their laboratory where they spent most of their time developing or improving their products when they weren't making the rounds in the store, pranking and demonstrating what they had to offer. Even after twelve successful years the store was his pride and joy and he never grew tired of thinking of new ways to make the world a funnier place. Still - he needed a break from time to time.

"I thought Ron was taking his leave today? Doesn't he have other things to do?"

"Eh, today's his last day before his time off. Besides, he already knows what it's all about so he's not exactly stressed out."

Both he and George snorted and shook their heads, like they always did when thinking about their youngest brother, before they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

A few hours later the (hopefully) final prototype of their new 'Wrinkle No More'-cream was done and now all that was left to do before they could start to mass produce it was to try it out and make sure that everything worked out as planned and had the desired effect. Both brothers were convinced however that this was _it_ \- they'd been extra cautious when choosing and combining the ingredients this time after the incident when a previous version had made the skin turn into a stone-like texture.

They let out a whopping sound, gave each other a high five and Fred was so excited and couldn't wait to tell Mione about how they finally did it! Speaking of which-

"Okey Gred, I'm off!"

With a flick with his wand a new robe appeared levitating in front of him (this one in a deep mustard colour) and he quickly removed his work robes and put the new ones on.

"Sure! I wouldn't dream of occupying the rest of your day - not when I know there's a pretty witch waiting for you." George gave him a sly grin.

"What are you talking about dear twin? It's only Mione."

"Never mind. Now run along and tell _Her_ mione I said hi! And thank her again for suggesting to use less Erumpent Tails and instead add some Chizpurfle Fangs, I think that made the biggest difference."

"Brilliant she is! Okey, see you tomorrow!" He opened the door and hurried out onto the streets of Diagon Alley, leaving his twin who laughed quietly before turning back to go over the inventory.

* * *

For the past nine years every Thursday had followed the same pattern, which is why his legs automatically carried him towards 'Bell's Pastries and Tea House' which had replaced 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour' after the war when it was discovered that the kind old man had been killed by Death Eaters. His old fellow Gryffindor friend and fellow quidditch member Katie Jordan (née Bell), who'd started Hogwarts one year after himself, had opened up the new place a few years ago and it was now one of the most popular places in Diagon Alley (next to his own shop of course).

The Tea house's interior reminded him a lot of the Gryffindor common room with it's burgundy walls with gold details. Small wooden tables took up most of the floor space with the chairs, armchairs and sofas, which none were of the same design but still complemented the over all feel splendidly and just like in the Great Hall at Hogwarts the room was filled with tiny candles floating in the air giving off a worm, soft light. It was cozy but not in the tacky and frilly way like that 'Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop' in Hogsmeade. Thankfully.

Katie's cheery voice greeted him as usual and he walked up to the counter.

"You're like clockwork, Weasley. I'm just about to finish up your regular order, do you want anything else?" She of course already knew the answer to that but insisted to ask him anyways just in case. He smiled.

"No thank you Bells, just the regular."

"It's _Jordan_ , Weasley."

"Whatever you say _Bells_! I don't know why you decided to marry Lee when you could have had me."

She glared at him.

"You're lucky I know you're just jesting with me Weasley, otherwise you'd find yourself without a place to get your Thursday tea and that would be quite _catastrophic_ for you, _wouldn't it_?" Her glare had transformed to a angelic smile but he was not fooled. One Thursday four years ago (September 14th, 2004 to be exact) he'd somehow been unable to enter the Tea house after pranking the brunette owner and her husband with one of the many 'Lust potions' that could be bought at his shop and let's just say that it had thrown his Thursday off completely. Finally after hours of apologizing, Mrs. Katie Jordan had taken pity upon him and lifted her ban - but only after he promised never to do anything like it again.

"Yes. Just jesting with you Bel- I mean _Jordan_."

She smiled proudly.

"Okey, your order is done. Say hello to Hermione for me!"

He paid her what he owed, then he was off again. Or he would be, had he not ran into someone on the way out.

"Fred Weasley right? Or is it George?"

He looked over at the pretty witch he'd almost drenched in hot tea.

"First one was correct. Fred Weasley - at your service!"

He really should be heading off but guessed it wouldn't hurt if he stayed for a few extra minutes. The woman was quite tall, almost as tall as himself and was wearing a dark green cloak which still managed to hug her in the right places even though she was not obviously curvy. Her straight black hair almost reached her waist and upon closer inspection he could see that her eyes had a piercing grey hue which still managed to standout even with her pale complection. In the back of his mind a sense of recognition came to him but at the moment he was unable to place her face. Over all she was really pretty and he hadn't met someone new for a while.

He kissed the back of her hand and smirked when he noticed the colour of her cheeks change to a dark red.

"Melinda Bobbin."

Bobbin. _Bobbin?_ The name was familiar to him and after a moment he vaguely could remember seeing her walking around the halls of Hogwarts.

"Ah yes, I remember you! You were sorted a few years after me at Hogwarts - Ravenclaw, right?"

If possible she blushed even more.

"Yes, I'm honored that you would remember me. I of course know a great deal about you! You dropped out of Hogwarts before the end of your seventh year and you co. own the joke shop on 93rd, it's really impressive magic that is!" She spoke enthusiastically.

"Why, thank you. You should come by sometime and you might get the grand tour!"

"I'd like that very much Fred!"

"Perfect! I'll see you around then."

Ah, he loved women and couldn't wait to get to know Melinda Bobbin some more, as long as she understood his rules. After all, he wasn't looking for a serious relationship, no, he was single and ready to mingle. And if miss. Bobbin couldn't understand that there were many others who did, but if she did, well - then this would be a pleasurable start of something new and interesting for both of them.

He gave her his signature smile that made her - just like all the other ladies he'd charmed - swoon, waved, then ran off to the apparating point.

 _He was really late._


	3. Chapter 2

February 4th, 2008

Fred hurried through the dark hallway of Level 4 where the 'Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' was located at the Ministry of Magic while balancing the two containers filled with hot tea firmly against his chest, trying desperately not to bump into something or someone on the way.

He couldn't figure out why the whole building had to be so depressing. Sure - he knew that it was entirely underground right beneath Whitehall (a road in Westminster in the heart of London) and that the windows were only magically enchanted to show the weather outdoors each day, but still, that didn't mean everything else had to be so… _dark_. The polished wooden floor was the same all over the building from what he could tell (he'd never been to Level 9 at the Department of Mysteries so he couldn't really confirm nor deny that is was the same there) and only the walls changed colour slightly depending on which floor you were on. Even though it was pretty warm inside, the whole building radiated a coldness and seriousness that made him feel really uncomfortable. And everything looked _exactly the same_.

It had taken him longer than he cared to admit to finally be able to find his way around without getting lost and he secretly considered trying to draw a map similar to the one the Marauders had created of Hogwarts just in case he'd ever need it. But he guessed most would consider that a security breach and not a tool for _harmles_ s and _confused_ visitors like him to be able to get around.

Thankfully it was lunchtime so it seemed he didn't really have to worry about socializing with a lot of people and the ones he did meet just gave him a wave and a polite "Hello" _or_ they just glanced at the clock and chuckled when they saw him pass. Because after nine years everyone knew where Fred Weasley was heading every Thursday with two containers of hot tea in his arms sometime between 11.30-11.45 AM.

With a scrowl he forced his legs to move faster. Yes, he knew he was late, they didn't have to be so smug about it.

He passed the Spirit division, then the Beast division and finally he was in front of her office door in the Being division.

She didn't have an assistant even though both Kingsley (who was still Minister after the war and continued to do an amazing job) and her boss Mr. Davey Gudgeon (who famously was the reason it was forbidden for all students at Hogwarts to go near the Whomping Willow after nearly losing an eye trying to touch it's trunk when he was a student in the 70's) had suggested that a woman with her busy schedule really could use one - they were really worried that she would exhaust herself otherwise - but she'd refused, therefore he didn't have to wait for someone to announce his arrival, instead he just burst the door open and stepped inside.

"Fred! _Where have you been?_ It's 12.17 and I was just about to send out a search party for you."

Hermione Jean Granger was sitting behind her desk - which was overly organized as usual but a bit more colourful than her coworkers. She'd allowed him to cheer it up a bit with some colour-changing flowers and he'd insisted that the frames that decorated the desk and the walls should all be in various playful shades as well. It was subtle enough for it to still be tasteful but it made a huge difference to the room.

The woman herself had a frantic look on her face and in her chocolate brown eyes he could see she was really tired and irritated - something he knew from experience could only be cured with some tea and a proper lunch.

He smiled and jumped up on her desk in front of her, then held out his left hand which held her hot tea.

"Here you go mylady. Lavender tea with a tiny squeeze of lime - not lemon - just the way you like it!"

Immediately she took a sip of the hot beverage, then closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Oh thank Merlin. I need you so badly right now."

"Why my dear Mione, had I known that you needed me I would have been here much sooner. I know the perfect remedy for that." He gave her a sly grin and she glared at him in return.

"Don't flatter yourself Fred, I was talking to the _tea_. I was beginning to worry that Katie had banned you again and then I don't know what I would have done. Last time that happened it took me forever to get you to apologize and if that were to happen _again_ I think I would consider to end our friendship just to stay on Katie's good side. I need tea to function and hers is so much better than yours."

He let out a heartfelt laugh.

"And don't I know it! Sorry about the delay, I was a bit distracted. By the way, Katie and George says hi! George also wanted me to thank you for helping us with the ingredients in our 'Wrinkle No More'- cream! We believe it to be ready for final testing now! The change you suggested really was the game changer, then we only added a fraction of Lacewing flies to perfect it. You don't want to try it out do you?" He noticed how she smiled fondly at him while he was talking about their success concerning the cream - of course she'd known all about how much they'd struggled with it in the past and she was probably happy that he wouldn't sulk about it anymore. She raised an eyebrow however when he asked her if she wanted to try it out.

"Fred, you know that I trust you but honestly, there's no way I'm going to be one of your test subjects when it comes to your products, whether it's toys or potions or beauty creams or whatever. I've had bad experiences with it before - some giving me physical marks (the Boxing Telescope for example) - so no. Thank you, but no. Besides, are you saying the cream would benefit me? Is this your subtle way of saying I have wrinkles?"

He took his thumb and smoothed out the tiny and adorable line that did indeed appear on her face whenever she frowned, but decided not to mention it. Instead he just answered "Of course not Mione, love. I just thought you might want to see and experience the effects of yet another product that you've helped us with." He flashed her an innocent smile then focused on his tea.

"Something that we still keep just between us, George and Angelina, right? My reputation would be ruined if people found out I help develop products for your store on the side. I guess most probably wouldn't believe it but still." The playful glint in her eyes that he really enjoyed had replaced the irritation and he silently thanked Katie Jordan and her marvelous tea for working it's magic.

"Sure thing Mione, love. We wouldn't want to ruin your _flawless reputation_ now would we?"

He made sure she'd finished her cuppa then pulled her out of her chair.

"So, what does the taste buds of the fair maiden feel like ingesting today?"

She cringed at his choice of words and silence followed for a few moments while she thought it over. In the meantime she removed her boring black workrobe that did nothing for her womanly figure and revealed a light gray pencil skirt and a dark plum blouse (his favourite colour), paired with a pair of heels with a professional height to them (not stilettos in other words, but something she could actually walk in) underneath and he had to admit that she looked very nice. Her frizzy curls were gathered in a french braid but a few uncontrollable strands refused to stay in place.

"How about we just go to 'The Leaky Cauldron'? It's been forever since last time."

He agreed and together they took off to use the Floo in the Atrium on Level 8.

* * *

The first thing one could see when stepping out from the fireplace into the pub was the handsome wooden staircase that stood out from the otherwise dark place but unlike the ministry, 'The Leaky Cauldron' had a slightly homey feel to it, which gave it a bit of warmth. Additionally he had to give it to Hannah Longbottom (née Abbott) because she'd really tried her best to tidy up the place and even though it was still gloomy, it was not shabby as it had been when the previous landlord, innkeeper and barman Tom had owned the place.

There weren't that many customers at the moment even though it was lunchtime but a few older men could be seen drinking around one of the tables and a young couple was seated in one of the corners next one of the two stairs leading down to the locked basement.

A familiar blond woman was working behind the bar on the left side of the pub and behind her several old paintings and portraits hung on the wall, just like in the old days.

"Hannah! How lovely it is to see you!" Hermione moved from her place beside him and walked over to the pub owner and he followed after her.

"Hermione! Fred! It's been too long! A table for two I assume?" She directed them towards a table close by and after both of them had ordered one plate each of 'The Leaky Cauldron specialty'- Steak and Kidney pie, they had some time to catch up with the former Hufflepuff.

"So how's Neville doing? Last time I talked to him he was still recovering from that nasty burn he got on the job. Harry said he was unsure about when he'd be able to start working again."

"It wasn't a pretty sight, that I can tell you. He's doing a lot better now though, I've helped him care for it to the best of my abilities and thankfully he knew of a couple of herbs that could help with the pain and diminish the scar tissue. He's still won't be able to go out on the field again for a while and is stuck with doing paperwork instead but from what I can tell he don't seem to be too bothered with it."

Both Fred and Hermione could see the love and devotion in Hannah's eyes when she spoke of her husband and they smiled. The couple had no kids but Harry's son Albus was Neville's godson and although he was only two years old, he happily spent a lot of his time helping his godfather with his plants and herbs.

"Will we be seeing both of you on Saturday?"

Hannah snorted at the question and Fred snickered at the sound.

"Yes, but I have to admit though that I can't seem to think that it would matter much if we missed it or not, we could always come next time instead."

Hermione shook her head and laughed, causing the free curls to wobble comically.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that's how it works." She said.

"Yes, _unfortunately_."

The young Mrs. Longbottom then excused herself before returning with their food and the delicious smell made Fred realise that he was _starving_.

"Well, enjoy your meal!"

With that Fred and Hermione dug in. After a few bites he looked up from his plate and he could see the brunette across from him smirking at him.

"So, did you have a good time yesterday? Who was it this time?"

It was incredible how he was able to talk about absolutely anything with her - a fact proven by these kinds of conversations. He knew she didn't judge him (well, not that much) and they had a very honest relationship with each other. She was his best friend.

"I always have a good time love, and by the sounds of it so did she. It was the blonde Slytherin - Amy Frome."

"I thought you ended it with her? Wasn't she the one who got a bit too attached and had a tantrum while throwing things at you?"

"No, that was Orla Quirke." He said while chewing on his food, causing tiny bites to escape from his mouth. She shot him a disgusted glare and he swallowed with a childish grin.

"Ah, yes. One of the Ravenclaws, right?"

"Yup. Anyways, Frome did ask to see me again tonight but I just reminded her of my rules. She knows about them but thinks she can make me change my mind."

"So which rule is this again?"

"No 'two nights in a row'."

"But isn't that the same rule as the 'No more than once a week' one?"

"No - the 'once a week'-rule only works Mondays through Fridays."

"So _theoretically_ you could invite Frome over on Saturday and not break one of your rules?"

He smiled proudly.

"Precisely! Shouldn't you know all of this by now?" He could tell that she knew he was only teasing her but that didn't stop her from defending herself loudly.

"It's a lot to keep track of!"

"Maybe I should write them all down and give it to you in a book." He grasped his arm where she'd slapped him in fake pain while laughing loudly.

"I was kidding!"

"What did she say then, after you explained?"

"Oh you know, she was hurt and said my rules were stupid-"

"Most of them _are_ stupid, Fred! Not letting them take a shower or grab something to eat for breakfast before leaving is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. As a woman I can tell you that we want to shower after a layover! We want to clean up and feel fresh again!"

Oh, how many times had they had this discussion before? So many he'd lost count but it was still really entertaining to argue with her about it.

"What? It makes sense when you think of it! First of all it's really _nice_ of me to let them stay the night if they want to, when I could just as easily make them go home afterwards. Secondly I don't want them to shower at my place because if I'd let one of them do so then I'd have to let all of them do so - and I simply don't have enough towels for that. I don't let them grab a snack for the simple reason that I would have to _buy_ something they could eat and this way I don't have to hear a lot of nagging about me not having anything edible in my fridge. I want my bachelor den to be just that - a _Bachelor's Den_ \- not to have them come with their "female touch" trying to _change_ the place."

There. His rock solid argument that he'd told her many, many times. And just like always she had something clever to say in return.

"Well, _aren't you a proper gentleman_." She said ironically, then continued "I have my own towel at your place, so what would it matter if another woman were to take a shower from time to time - you know you can simply wash the towel afterwards but of course you're just too lazy to do so! And you do need to start filling up your fridge with _something_. _Seriously_ , you're a 29 year old man for Merlin's sake and you still don't know how to cook and get your food from your _mother_ , how pathetic is that? And what do you mean that they will _change_ the place with their "female touch"? _I_ was the one who helped you decorate the flat after George moved out, come to think of it - more than half the things you own are actually _mine!_ "

"... Well, what I _meant_ was that I don't need _another_ woman nagging me about my empty fridge."

"Fred!"

He snickered into his exploding lemonade. It was extremely easy to rile her up and he found it hilarious every time. Sure, she had her moments when she could be scarier than his own mother but nowadays it was not often it was directed at him, but someone else (unlike how it had been at school when the young Granger prefect was determined to make his and George's lives as miserable as possible).

"Anyways," He decided to lead the conversation back to where it began "she was hurt, said my rules are stupid but you know, I was honest with her"

She rolled her eyes at him but said nothing.

"What? I was. _I am_. Always."

"I know you are but it's just shocking how you use it as a shield."

He scoffed at her answer. Shield. He didn't need no shield.

"Well, maybe I should lie more. Be more like Cormac McLaggen and say whatever it takes to get a woman into bed."

Hermione, who unfortunately had just taken a huge gulp of water, started coughing and tried to catch her breath again, while the liquid poured down her chin and onto her blouse in a not so attractive manner. A look of pure horror appeared on her face.

" _No!_ Do not be like Cormac McLaggen! He is one of the most repugnant men there is."

"He only hit on you once."

"The day of my father's funeral, which I told him while in tears and he still asked if I would like to "make the evening magical"! And that wasn't the only time he hit on me. I guess you weren't there during my sixth year at Hogwarts so you couldn't possibly have seen the way he was acting. Surely you must have known that I went with him to Slughorn's Christmas party? At the time I did it just because I thought choosing him would make Ronald jealous the most, but it's still one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my entire life. He was only talking about himself and was way too forward, you know - "romantically". It was absolutely horrible!"

Now that she mentioned it he remembered that he'd heard it before. Ron had been incredibly bitter about it even though he'd been dating Lavender Brown at the time.

"Yes, he's a bit of a egotistical arse, isn't he?"

"Definitely… anyway…"

Silence followed and he was looking at her expectantly.

"What?"

"Nothing." She continued to eat her food but he could see a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Mione! I know that 'nothing'. It's not nothing, it's something so come on. Tell me. _'Anyway'?_ "

He watched as she put her napkin on her plate before popping her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands.

" _Anyway_ , we both know that you don't need to lie to get a woman into bed, right Fred? In fact, if I were to guess on why you were late today I would say that you met someone new. That's why you said you were distracted. Am I right?"

A wicked grin lit up his face while he thought about the black haired witch he met earlier that day - a gesture that didn't go unnoticed.

"I knew it. So, who is she?"

"Her name's Melinda Bobbin. I believe she was about three or four years below me at Hogwarts - another Ravenclaw. Tell me, do you possibly know why her name seem so familiar? I can't seem to figure it out."

"Two years below me so it must have been four years for you. I remember Melinda, she was a member of the Slug Club as well." A frown appeared on her face. "You have to be careful with her though Fred, the reason you recognize her name is because she's one of _the_ Bobbin's. Her family owns the large chain of apothecaries from which you get most of your ingredients to your products, so you really don't want to get on her bad side."

Even though he knew what she was saying was very obviously a warning, he, instead of getting worried, saw it for what it truly was. A challenge. And a Weasley twin never backs down from a challenge.

"Proceed with caution it is!"

The worried frown on her face was still in place but she then just raised her shoulders in aspiration and it was gone. She couldn't change him and she didn't try to either.

"I didn't ask her out on a date. See, it's another rule - I can't do that on the first meeting - I just casually mentioned that she should pop in the shop sometime for a tour. Otherwise it would appear that I'm too desperate."

"You're _unbelievable_ Fred."

"I know you love me Mione!" She laughed and he joined in.


	4. Chapter 3

February 4th, 2008

They were walking down Diagon Alley after lunch with no particular goal in mind. Of course he knew it was inevitable that they would soon be going into Hermione's favourite store of all time - 'Flourish and Blotts' - and even though he wasn't really that interested to walk around looking at books he couldn't deny her that pleasure. A part of him felt like he should be offended that she didn't consider his store to be her favourite but then again she wouldn't really be Mione if she'd prefered pranks over litterature.

Sure enough they arrived in front of the store and in the windows, the usual display of gold-embossed spellbooks could be seen, though these were sometimes switched out to instead show the cover of whatever self-biography was newly released. Without a word his companion turned her head to look at him with her big, brown doe eyes and he chuckled while opening the door for her. She smiled brightly as they entered her happy place.

On the inside shelves upon shelves lined the walls, all filled with books of different varieties and sizes and one could easily tell that 'Flourish and Blotts' had been in business for a couple of centuries as it had a very rustic feel to it. Because the store was filled to the brim with books, it was incredibly helpful that various signs could be seen all over the place to help customers find what they need.

Fred turned to her "Are you looking for anything in particular or are we just roaming around this time?" He asked her quietly, as if he were in a library and not a book shop.

"I know I want _something_ , I just don't know _what_ … will you help me?" She answered with a playful smile, then turned her attention to go through the many books. Since he would otherwise be incredibly bored walking around doing nothing he was happy that she'd decided to play one of their favourite games. The rules were simple - when one of them is having trouble knowing what they want to get (or to do) the other one have to guess and come up with different suggestions. The suggestions could be anything related to the subject and it was a surprisingly effective way for them not to get to set in old ways but instead try new things. This had become a regular thing for them and they usually played it when they were deciding on what to get for dessert or in cases like these.

Fred immediately grabbed a thin green book and read it's cover.

"How about 'Have Yourself a Fiesta in a Bottle!'? It's a potions book from 1926! It could be interesting.'

"Urgh, no. It doesn't sound very informative. Something else." He put it back and instead moved a few rows down the line.

"What of this one then - Quiack Marinus 'Sub-Aquatic Botanical Mysteries'?"

"No… I don't think I need a book on underwater plants at the moment."

"'Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests?' wasn't he your imaginary boyfriend for a while?" She glared at him and he chuckled in return. They continued on like this while they walked around the store, breaking the silence when they found a book the other person might be interested in. Most his suggestions were serious ones and a few of them she was interested in, but then there were some that he mentioned just to tease her. Of course she was bound to turn the tables on him though.

"Here Fred, I found some that might interest you! 'The Hairy Heart: A Guide to Wizards Who Won't Commit'! Absolutely perfect, don't you think? Or what about this cooking book 'One Minute Feasts - It's Magic!'? I know that your mum owns the latter of the two but as we discussed earlier I think it would do you good if you had your own copy. I might just get them for you myself!" She giggled at his aghast expression and the sound was beautiful. See, for the past nine years this was the carefree version of Mione that he'd gotten know so well and enjoyed spending his time with - and she was very different now from the tired and irritated self she'd been earlier in her office. And back at school.

He smacked her gently on her arm with a book and saw how her expression changed as she grimaced when she caught a glimpse of the title. 'Harry Potter: A Biography' by Rita Skeeter.

"I can't believe they still sell this fiction. There are so many other books that are actually factually correct. This one's just _rubbish_." She shoved the book behind a large gray one that gave of some kind of smoke on the lowest shelf. Beside that one there was a thick brown book that looked like something she'd might be interested in but she missed it so Fred bent down and picked it up.

"'Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration'?" Immediately her eyes lit up and she grabbed it from his hands, tracing the title with her ink stained and slightly scarred - but still delicate - fingers.

"Oooh! I've been trying to get a copy of this for ages! I used to read this all the time while at school, though it was full of scribbles that Madam Pince once told me were made by Albus Dumbledore. She actually confided in me that she had to jinx the book to beat him around the head whenever he absentmindedly doodled on it." Both of them smiled fondly when they thought of their old Headmaster.

"Thank you Fred, This is exactly what I wanted!"

A few minutes later they walked out on the street again and Hermione was beaming, just like she alway did whenever she bought a new book. In addition to the Transfiguration one, she'd also found and bought an updated copy of 'New Theory of Numerology' since the one she got from Harry for Christmas in 1995 was falling apart.

They passed the shopfronts of 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions' and 'Potage's Cauldron Shop' and he considered to go into 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' but decided against it.

"You know, Wayne sent me another letter?"

"Seriously? Did he ask you to quit you job and marry him again?" He smirked at the thought of her old boyfriend. Her relationship with Wayne Hopkins - who'd been sorted into Hufflepuff in her year - had ended after a few months when he couldn't stop pressuring her to quit her job and get married because according to him it was impossible for a woman to work while raising a family. Coming from a family with five brothers and one sister Fred appreciated his own mother for being a stay-at-home mum but he also knew that Mione was not the "housewife"- type. "You ended your relationship like a year ago, right?"

"19 months…"

" _You're counting?!_ "

"No. _He is_ … it was in the letter…" He laughed in disbelief.

"Merlin, and you're complaining about my lovely lady-friends. Your ex-boyfriends don't exactly have the best track record."

"For your information, Wayne is the only one that's been acting a bit deranged. Well, I guess Ronald would fall into that category as well but we only dated for two months before we broke it off and that was a long time ago so I don't think that really counts."

Fred snorted. One would think he'd defend his little brother from being described as "deranged" but unfortunately he agreed with her.

"So, is there anyone new in your life, love?"

She sighed but it wasn't one of those sad and desperate "I'm-all-alone-and-nobody-will-ever-love-me"- kind of sighs, more like the sound of someone being extremely tired of getting asked that precise question. Which he could understand. Most women her age had settled down and were now pestering her about how she should find a husband.

It wasn't like she hadn't had her share of boyfriends since the war ended - quite the contrary actually! Being the brain behind 'the Golden Trio' and a war hero had opened up many doors for her both professionally and romantically and many had been interested in her. Over the years she'd dated Ron, Neville (before he got together with Hannah), Anthony Goldstein (a Ravenclaw student in her year and a fellow member of 'Dumbledore's Army'), Kenneth Towler (a fellow Gryffindor student in his year whom he'd once pranked by putting Bulbadox powder in his pyjama in fifth year), Seamus Finnigan and finally Wayne Hopkins. Excluded from the list were the ones who never made it to a second date. The problem (if one could call it that) was that out of all of them she'd only fallen in love once, while with the rest of them the relationships had only lasted for a couple of months.

Hermione and Anthony had been together for more than three years when they'd decided to go their separate ways and the reason had simply been because they both at the time had focused more on their careers instead of eachother. It was after their breakup five years ago that Hermione had her breakthrough with S.P.E.W (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) as it was made a semi-department of the Being Division. She'd come a long way since then and new laws had been set because of her.

Goldstein was now happily married to Cho Chang.

"Honestly Fred? I tell you everything that's going on on my life so you know very well that there if there had been someone you'd known about it. I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to have someone in my life that I could share everything with but who knows when I'll meet that special someone - maybe tomorrow, in a year or even ten years. But for the time being I'm stuck with you."

"Wow… that was so deep. Who knew miss. Granger could be such a romantic?" She shoved him playfully and laughed loudly.

"Shut it."

They had passed 'Gringotts' and were now approaching 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' and both of them agreed to pop inside for a short visit.

Because it was a Thursday the shop didn't have that many customers at the moment which was why Fred was able to take the day off before lunch every week, but the shop was never _empty_. There was always some parents with their young kids, who's not yet of age to go to Hogwarts, laughing at the different products - like the 'Anti Gravity Hats', 'Electric Shock Shake' and the 'Nose Biting Teacup' - and always some kid crying because the parents won't let it buy something. There's also a lot of young women (and older ones) coming in to get some of their 'Wonder Witch'- products, which is why the line was so popular and needed new products all the time.

Yes, the crowds during the weeks and most weekends are manageable but whenever the students are home from school - whether it's for Christmas, Easter or summer vocation - the store is always crammed with people, giving them a hard time to keep up with restocking and having enough personnel to be able to help with customers and everything else needed. But no matter what time of the year it was they were always making a lot of money.

Coming from a poor family it had been very overwhelming in the beginning to earn as much as they did, and for some time the twins had a small problem with buying too much stuff and spending a lot of money just because they could. After the war however things calmed down quite a bit in that department but they still always made sure that their family was cared for - even though his parents refused to take any money from them. It was funny how so many things had changed over the years.

Inside the shop George greeted them by giving the brunette a colossal hug, then proceeded to touch her face fondly while thanking her for her help with the cream and Mione stood frozen in place confused by his unusually close proximity. For a moment Fred too had been a bit surprised by his twins antics but then he had to bite back a chuckle when he saw a thin paste like texture where he'd touched her face. And she had no idea of what just happened. Hah, now she had no choice but to try the wrinkle vanishing cream. Seriously, for having one of the Weasley twins as one of her very best friends, she really should know all of their tricks by now but it was always fun to see how they (okey, mostly George) could come up with new creative ways for her to fall for their ruse.

"George? What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

"What? Can't a man just thank a woman without getting questioned about his motives now? You _wound_ me Granger. You really do."

"With you there's always something going on."

"With me? Never! … Maybe Verity did put something in my lunch because I've been very affectionate with most women in my life in the last couple of hours. Mum came by just a little while ago and insisted that Ron would go with her for lunch and Angie came to pick up the gift that still needs wrapping." He winked and Fred almost doubled over when he realised that both his mother and twinster-in-law (and now also his best friend) would have a lot smoother skin for the next couple of days if everything worked out as planned. The grin of his face widened.

"Anyway" Mione's eyes traveled suspiciously between them. She finally turned to look at Fred and said "While I'm here I might as well get me some 'Creepy Crawlies'. They're always good to have at hand i case I need something to brighten up my day at work." and off she went.

When she was out of earshot he turned to George while letting go of the chuckle that had been building up.

"Brilliant you are. She's going to kill you when she finds out though."

"I know."

Mione then returned with the products she wanted, gave George the money (even though they'd told her several times that she didn't have to pay for anything since she was helping them when they needed it) then they were off again.

* * *

A couple of shops later they stood inside of 'The Junk Shop' - a shop that, despite its name, had a few gems hidden if you knew where to look. Two of the first things that he'd learned about Mione when they'd first started their friendship was that 1. she's really taking her time when walking around in a store and 2. she loves to look at old goods. Again, coming from a family where most of the things he'd owned were things he'd inherited from his older brothers or got in secondhand, this was not something he'd particularly liked to do in the beginning but he'd soon found it to be really amusing to saunt around trying to find something good in the many piles of junk that were on display. Sometimes they tried to guess the personality and backstory of the previous owners and their suggestions were often so ridiculous they ended up gasping for air after laughing so much. After getting to know her more he'd realised that this was something she'd used to do with her mother growing up and still to this day they loved to walk around thrift shops together (only nowadays Fred usually joined them).

They were currently inspecting an atrocious looking desk that were crafted in a baroque style with loads of swirly and curvaceous figures on it.

"Aw, look at this beauty! A rich old lady probably had it custom made just for her."

"I can't believe how anyone with obvious proficiency for the handiwork could possibly create something like this and think 'I think it needs more details', seriously, it's absolutely hideous! Who in their _right mind_ would want something like this in their home?" Hermione proclaimed with an appalled look on her face as she stepped back from the furniture and Fred snickered.

"You're lucky you've never been to aunt Muriel's house! The whole place is decorated in a similar style and is filled with frilly and cringe worthy things. You'd loath it. Perhaps the old hag died and this was one of hers. I actually think we have something just like this in the shed back home… I believe it was a gift from Aunty to mum and dad on their wedding day."

The witch next to him shook her head with an appalled look on her face - if it was for the improper joke about him wishing his relative was dead, or if she was still fixated on the horrendous desk in front of them, he didn't know. "Sorry to disappoint but I know for a fact that your dear aunt is very much alive. Ginny told me that your mother got a howler from her only a few days ago asking why she wasn't invited to attend on Saturday, then gave a long speech about how she didn't want to come anyways. Said it was quite hilarious to listen to even though your mother didn't agree."

The image of a howler yelling at his mother was an amusing thought and a sense of justice filled him for how many times had he not been on the receiving end of one from her? Hah.

"Oh, how I would have loved to hear that.".

Slowly they moved their attention from the desk and after a few minutes of just scanning the large room filled with mostly useless junk, his gaze settled on a decanter-set in the far back corner and he strode over to it with a few long strides.

"Hey, speaking of Saturday, I think we should give them this!"

Mione, who was in the middle of freeing a pretty antique vase from a layer of dust, turned her head to look at the set in his hands.

"Really Fred? A set of whiskey decanters? I don't think it's a good idea to give them something to encourage drinking on their wedding day… besides, _we_ are not giving them anything together, _I_ , however, have already purchased _my_ gift for them." Her attention was back on the vase but he had detected the slight irritation in her voice and quickly put down the carafes where he'd found them and walked up to her.

"Mione! How could you do this to me? You know I _need_ you!"

"No, Fred. I'm not going to another one of Ronald's weddings as your date! People are starting to get the wrong impression and they're questioning me about the true nature of our relationship and I don't fancy it one bit. All the icy glares from interested women who think I've robbed them of an opportunity to get to you. It's ridiculous."

She started to move once again but this time Fred followed closely behind, his eyes trying their best to make her cave.

"Mione? please! _Please?_ "

"Take one of the girls you've been rubbing up against."

"'No weddings or family events'" He stated matter-of-factly and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that rule - it gives the _wrong impression_." Her voice practically dripped with sarcasm but a small smile played on her lips and he realised that she enjoyed torturing him like this.

"It does. Besides, you're going to be there anyways! What difference would it be to you?"

"Oh come on Fred, we both know that the only reason you want me to be your date is so that you don't have to sit at the singles table!"

This was true. If there was one occasion when he didn't enjoy being single it was to weddings and family events, because contrary to popular belief it's not a good idea to pick up women at a wedding. You know why? Because once they're in that atmosphere of "Happily Ever After" they'll latch themselves to you and never let go. Coincidentally, he'd learned from experience that weddings and family events is also the time when every single female related to his family in any way, seem to want to play matchmaker with all the other guests, so if you're single - and especially dateless - there's no way to get away. Sure, everyone knew that he and Mione are only friends and therefore still try their best to introduce him to new women, but if she's his date he can always use her as an excuse to get away, for it's truly a terrible thing to leave your date alone for to long. Mind you, he surely remembered the names and faces of all the single women who were present - he just saved them for a later time.

" _Pretty please?_ I promise you, this is the last time I'll ask. And then I'll find somebody else to come to the next one. _Please Mione?_ "

She'd stopped in front of an enormous hat that was probably as old as the Sorting Hat back at Hogwarts. It was purple in colour and two large ostrich feathers were pinned to it's side where the hat was enchanted to change into different shapes, such as a rose, a star or a heart. She took the hat from its place and put it on her head and she looked absolutely nonsensical in it. Perhaps some flattery will do.

"You look adorable Mione." He tried his best not to laugh and instead focused all his energy on working his best pout and puppy eyes.

She sighed heavily but a defeated smile tugged at her lips.

"Last time."

Fred did a small victory dance and patted her cheeks fondly, before he removed the hat from her halo of hair that now had more loose curls than strands trapped in the prison french braid.

"Thank you, thank you, _thank you!_ "

Suddenly he could see how Miones face fixated on something behind him and she frowned before she rushed around him and towards whatever it was. Confused he turned around and was greeted by the sight of his own reflection and Miones as she was standing really closely to the mirror while tugging at her face. With a murderous glare she caught his eyes and in a matter of mere moments his features had changed from confused, to terrified until it finally settled on humorous. While laughing he raced out from 'The Junk Shop', down the streets of Diagon Alley towards his own shop to give his twin brother a heads up while a screaming Mione ran after him.

"FREDERICK WEASLEY! WHY DIDN'T YOU _SAY_ SOMETHING? OH, JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU TWO! GEORGE IS LUCKY HE'S ALREADY REPRODUCED BECAUSE ONCE I'M DONE WITH HIM HE WON'T BE ABLE TO ANYMORE!"

She'd finally realised what George'd been doing earlier in the shop when he'd in fact smeared the new 'Wrinkle No More'- cream all over her face, and was now out for revenge.

Just a normal Thursday with his favourite witch.


	5. Chapter 4

February 6th, 2008

Two days later, on the Saturday on which the youngest Weasley brother and his soon-to-be wife would join together in matrimony, Fred and Hermione appeared at the apparition point on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole. Because of the famous status his brother had gained after his involvement in defeating the Darkest Wizard of All Time, and with that ensuring their victory in the Second Wizarding War, extra wards had been cast around the property of The Burrow to keep the press and uninvited guests from entering. It was nothing the two of them took notice of much though, since it didn't affect them, and together they walked towards the busy house.

It was a little after one o'clock in the afternoon and in the distance they could see quite a funny sight of people running around trying to make sure that everything was in order for when the wedding ceremony would start.

Unfortunately for the happy couple the weather was not the best at the moment with grey and depressing clouds blocking the sun, but still they had some time to change their advance to a different direction, and according to the forecast the promise of a brighter day was to be expected. What could one really expect in early February though? At least it wasn't snowing. Not that it would have mattered anyway since the ground was covered in several inches of powdery snow - the kind that is impossible to shape in any way and therefore is no fun whatsoever - and it was rather difficult to move forward on the narrow path that had been shoveled (by magic of course) to guide them right.

The Burrow really wasn't the ideal place for a winter wedding, but because the Bride and Groom had left them with just a little more than two months to plan the whole ordeal after getting engaged, they didn't have that many options when it came to finding a venue. In truth, the Weasley home had hosted several family weddings since the first one when Bill and Fleur married nearly 11 years ago, but this was the first one (and hopefully last one) that was being held during the winter months. Besides having to put up the extra security wards, several charms had been needed to keep the (well used) enchanted tent, that served as the ceremony-, and reception hall from getting too cold.

As they were getting closer, he had to admit that the backyard looked extraordinary, what with Bluebell Flames strategically placed all around, moving ice sculptures (that definitely couldn't have been Ron's idéa) that danced and greeted everyone, and the beautiful, frost covered flowers and plants that were glowing (thanks to the 'Glow Up Dust' from Weasley Wizards Wheezes - it could be used on anything and everyone to make it or them glow from within!). The whole place was engrossed in a blue, icy hue that fitted very well with the navy- and silver colour scheme that the whole wedding was planned around. Yes, The Burrow was not the best place for a winter wedding, but his mother and the others who'd helped organize everything sure had done a fantastic job to make it work.

His date, who walked in front of him on the narrow path, seemed to share his opinion about the unusually magical sight and muttered something about 'Nutcracker', 'Waltz of the Snowflakes' and 'Tchaikovsky', none of which made any sense to him.

"Wow Fred! it looks incredible, doesn't it? I was very sceptical about a February wedding - especially here at The Burrow -, but I really shouldn't have underestimated your mother's determination. She's a miracle worker!"

"She's experienced, that's what she is" he answered her with a crooked smile that she caught when she turned her head to look at him.

"Nevertheless, it's… _magical_!"

"Thinking about marriage, Mione? I'm sure Ickle Ronniekins wouldn't mind making you his next wife, after this one of course."

He let out a chuckle at his own cleverness. Oh, he was hilarious! It was obvious though that she didn't agree from the glare she sent his way.

"Oh hush. Don't jinx it their maternal happiness before it has begun. This could stick."

"Yes, but you don't really believe it will work out, do you?"

"One could always hope."

Still laughing he managed to say "Wanna bet on it?", but before she could reprimand him on his terrible betting habits (that was unfortunately something he shared with his dear siblings), or the lack of faith he had in his youngest brother, she slipped on a hidden spot of ice and tumbled backwards, trying to save herself by grabbing his coat, which unfortunately resulted in her causing him to lose his footing and together they ended up in a pile of snow with an explosion of the powdery substance falling everywhere around them.

"Oh, fantastic! Just what we needed!" The exclamation was not subtle in hiding the frustration and sarcasm of the voice owner, and she quickly stood up trying to rid herself from the snow that now covered her from head to toe, then he felt how she grabbed him by his hand, pulled him up and proceeded to free him from it as well. His trousers were soaked and already beyond saving, and he was sure that his very handsome (as many others as well as he himself described it) rear end would be bruised for days.

"Oh, just look at my dress! And look at you! This is a _disaster_ … I'll never be able to get my hair to look presentable again in time...!" Her hair, which for once had been pulled into a sleek bun at the nape of her neck with only a few ringlets framing her heart shaped face, was now back to looking like a birds nest. The sight of her looking a soggy mess and the slight shock of what had happened finally caught up with him and suddenly he started shaking with mirth again and his vision soon became blurry. When the woman in front of him lightly smacked him on his arm with a dirty look on her face, it only triggered his gleeful attack more.

"It's not _funny_ , Fred! The wedding is less than two hours away! Oh, I do hope that Ginny will be able to help me look decent again. I'm blaming you, you know…"

" _Me?!_ What did _I_ do? You were the one who slipped on the ice!" The words of defense leaving his mouth did lack in strength since he struggled to catch his breath from laughing so much.

"Well, if you'd only been ready when I arrived at your place, or better yet - at least had warned me a day in advance that you _didn't have anything to wear_ instead of waiting for me to arrive to break the news, and _then_ expect me to dig through your _entire wardrobe_ to find something suitable and clean for you - then I would've had time to remember to cast the simple 'Anti-slip' charm on my heels and this whole mess could've been avoided. Ergo - _Your fault!_ "

During her little rant she'd walked up to him and under raised eyebrows, her brown eyes held a challenging glint that dared him to say one word to defend himself. Her lips were pressed into a thin line - not that he concentrated on her sweet, pink lips that were only coated with a thin layer of clear lip gloss - and this particular look would intimidate most that was unfortunate enough to come across it, but since he'd seen it so often over the years he just stared back at her, still with an amused smile on his face. And just like that the façade she'd put on cracked and soon both of them were crying with laughter.

"We… we have to go…! We're so… late!"

Oh, yes. Right. The wedding. His brother's wedding. He was amazed over how easily she could make him forget everything and only focus on the two of them.

"Yes, let's get this thing over with. "

He grabbed her arm and guided her the remaining way to his childhood home.

* * *

The second they stepped inside the house and into the livingroom, the familiar sight of ginger hair was the first thing that met them. His four brothers were all fighting over who'd get to sit in the sofa that was already occupied by his favourite sister, and in the middle of the brown and old coffee table was an opened bottle of Firewhiskey.

"What in the name of Merlin's pants happened to you two?"

Ginny, who was the first one to notice their arrival, looked them over with a frown on her face and her question efficiently ended the brothers bickering as they all instead turned their attention towards them.

"Oi! We all know that everyone really think that, you know… that _this is getting a bit ridiculous_ -" the last words his own twin said were in a mere whisper and he looked around in case their mother or anyone else was listening in to the conversation "- but that doesn't mean you can't at least try to make an effort." Bill gave George a slap on his head but had difficult trying to hide the his amused smile at the comment.

"It was Fred's fault."

"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't do anything!" Several snickers was heard and when he looked around it was obvious that no one believed him to be innocent, so he turned his head back to the which by his side who looked extremely pleased with herself and sent a tiny glare her way.

"Mum is going to kill the pair of you. The wedding's starts in one hour and… 27 minutes, and one could think that you decided to take a quick dip in the frozen pond - not a look suitable for a wedding." Percy's pretentious voice matched the disapproval on his face and Fred and Hermione both decided to ignore him, but when he glanced sideways he could see that her expression had changed to one of irritation. He knew it took all her willpower not to snap back at him but instead she took a deep breath, pouted (adoringly he might add) and turned towards Ginny Potter.

"Ginny, I _really_ don't want to bother you but do you think you could help me fix this _mess_?" She was gesturing towards herself (especially towards the disaster on the top of her head), and his sister took pity on her and gave up her seat on the couch.

"Of course, Hermione! I'm sure the two of us will be able to save the situation in no time - though we might have to be a bit creative when it comes to your hair… It's a good thing that I get something to do, Harry's been driving me mad trying to force me to sit down all day!" She walked in a circle around the brunette, trying to get a grip of how much work needed to be done, all while twisting her wand between her fingers.

"Hm... Where is Harry by the way?"

"With Ron. Apparently my idiot brother forgot where he left the gift he meant to present to his wife before the wedding, and it's Harry's job as the Best Man to calm him down and help him find it."

"I was hoping to see them both before it starts-"

"In that case we need to hurry up and go to the bathroom to make you presentable."

In one swift movement she grasped Miones hand and began pulling her up the stairs, then they were gone and he was left in the company of his brothers.

George, Bill and Percy all had resumed to bicker, only this time the three of them were already sitting down and instead they fought over who could spread out as much as possible and therefore be the most comfortable. He walked over to the firewhiskey and poured himself a glass, then turned to them with an amused smile.

Percy was wearing a boring black robe like usual, and the only difference between this one and the ones he wore to work was that this one was made from a different material (not finer - just different) and the buttons had tiny silver details on them. He kept adjusting the spectacles on the bridge of his nose as they didn't fit quite perfectly and furthermore he was the only one of his brothers who'd decided to wear a hat to the occasion.

Bill, who was the first born and also the first to show any signs of gray hair, was also surprisingly enough wearing black dress robes, but unlike Percy's his was far more interesting to look at as it had subtle but attractive swirly patterns all over, and he'd also paired it with a 'slate-blue' skirt underneath that Fred was sure he'd matched with his wife's dress because they were just that kind of couple. It was very french and very adventurous. He still sported the dragon fang earring that his mother despised and his long hair was pulled into the usual ponytail.

He let out a small snort when he saw that George was wearing the very same ensemble that he himself had originally planned to wear, if he'd been able to f _ind_ it. He liked the fact that they still were able to unconsciously think of the same things (great minds really do think alike!), and therefore wasn't even a bit mad that his twin had claimed his clothes as his own. The robes were of the 'english-violet' colour, which was a bit too muted for their own liking but still enough to make them stand out in the otherwise boring sea of black and gray. On the back was a silver embroidery shaped like firework and sometimes it put on a little display to entertain anyone who stared a bit too long.

A few feet away from the couch stood Charlie, with his body turned towards the mantle mirror across the room, a deep frown on his face and he kept re-adjusting his 'chocolate cosmos' robes. His muscully form was very different than the rest of them and while everyone else in the family fully matched the description of a typical "ginger family", with light skin and tons of freckles, Charlie was incredibly tanned after working at the 'Romanian Dragon Sanctuary' for so long, and though he wasn't free of the ginger hair or the freckles, it was much less noticeable on him then the rest of them. And it looked like he could break anything with his bare hands.

"Bloody hell! I _hate_ this thing! I'm telling you - for the next one I'm forcing Ron to _pay_ me if he wants me to attend. Every time I have to apply for an international portkey it takes forever, plus they cost a small fortune, and I _really_ don't like to take time off from work!"

"Don't be so grumpy little brother, this is the perfect opportunity to see the family! Dominique especially misses you and wishes you could come back more often." Bill, who was the current winner in the sofa debate and was leaning back with his hands behind his head and a proud smirk on his face, answered calmly. He was the proud father of two daughters - Victoire (8 years old) and Dominique (5 years old) - and one son - Luis (almost 4 years old) -, all three of them extremely well behaved, just like their parents (though Fred was sure he'd be able to lure out the little prankster in Luis in no time).

"It's not fair that you get to "little brother" everyone…" George grumpily said as he was cramped in the corner of the sofa, trying to shove the eldest brother to get more space.

"I'm the eldest so deal with it."

"Then act like it and give me your seat!"

Percy, who sat at the other end of the sofa, interrupted the two very mature fathers and instead turned towards where he was standing.

"So, I see that you and Miss. Granger arrived together again. Is she here as your date?" Fred, who'd been busy observing everyone snapped back to attention at the question and turned to the only brother who'd been present during the war when the wall had fallen down on him, and for a short while believed him to be dead. It was pretty clear that Percy held a softer spot for him then the other brothers after what had happened, even though he didn't show it very well. He meant well but it was incredibly frustrating that he always hinted and tried to figure out about the relationship between himself and Mione, It didn't matter how many times he was told that there was absolutely nothing romantically going on, Percy still refused to put it to rest.

"She is, but only for the wedding." He answered back, frowning.

"Fuck Freddie! Are you seriously going to leave me alone at the singles table _again?_ I seriously can't with all the women mum send my way! Another reason not to come to these blasted _weddings_ … for the next one I'm going to make sure she's coming with _me_ and not _you_."

Even though Charlie's frustration was very much real, he knew that his second oldest brother was only joking when he mentioned that he would take her as his date if the occasion would arise again, but for some unknown reason the thought Charlie and Mione together made him feel a bit sick. He chugged the rest of his drink then refilled his glass.

"Who says there's even going to be a next time? Ron seem to be really happy with Natalie and this might actually work." Bill sounded genuinely happy for his brother but the moment was broken by George.

"Yes, but what are the odds of that happening?" They all snorted, even though Bill and Percy did so involuntarily. "Speaking of which. Forge, would you like to join in on the bet we have going on? Five galleons each! I say they're divorced by November, Charlies bet is on September, Perce think they'll get pregnant and break up before the child in born - probably around June next year -, and Mr. "This might actually work" over here bet they'll be in the process of a divorce this time next year. Oh, and Ginny thinks she'll leave him around Christmas."

He chuckled with his twin. Percy had the decently to look ashamed over the bet and quietly asked "You won't tell Audrey, will you?"

"You won't tell 'Audrey' what, _dear?_ "

A short pudgy woman with short honey-blonde hair, came up behind him through the front door and immediately they all straightened up a bit. George quickly tried to sneak the firewhiskey from her view but by the way her look darkened it was obvious that she'd caught a glimpse of it, but she focused her attention on the man who was sitting in the right corner of the couch.

Audrey Weasley, Percy's wife of four years, was scarily much like the Weasley matron, something which was a recurring pointer whenever they wanted to tantalize the middle brother for being such a mummy's boy, and even though she didn't have the same power over everyone else as his mother did, she certainly had her husband in a tight leash. The couple met at the Ministry of Magic (of course) when she'd worked as a secretary to the boss of the compartment where he worked (Department of Magical Transportation) but she quit her job when they married and now focused on raising their two kids - Molly II (4 years old) and Lucy (2 years old) -, something that further reminded them of the similarities between the two women. Percy's face turned bright red under his wife's piercing look and he struggled to get out his words.

"No- nothing dear. I wouldn't hide anything from you."

"That's what I thought." Her eyes traveled down to the empty glass in his hand and she pursed her lips. "Why don't you come join me in the backyard? I'm tired of keeping track of the girls by myself, it's almost impossible to find them among all the cousins."

"Certainly, dear!"

Percy stood up, re-adjusted his spectacles and the hat on his head, then they left the room.

The four remaining brothers let out a booming laugh, then returned to their conversation.

"I'm so happy I'm not married... You guys are all whipped." Charlie snickered.

"Yes, You'll be overjoyed at the singles table."

"Shut up, Fred. I wasn't talking to you."

* * *

50 minutes later Ginny hurried down the stairs with Mione trying to follow behind.

"Fred! George! Hermione just told me about the wrinkle vanishing- cream you smeared all over her face! Why don't you ever ask if I'd be willing to try your products? I need it!" His sister was wearing a light grey flowy, floor length dress that had beautiful braid details on the bodice. In contrast her long, silky hair was trapped in a tight french twist, something that really made her bright brown eyes pop.

He shrugged and saw that his twin did the exact same thing, then he answered "Sorry sis, we're not finished testing the final prototype yet, and even if it was ready you wouldn't be able to use it right now."

" _Why the bloody hell not?_ "

"It's not safe. We don't recommend anyone to use our 'Wonder Witch'- products if they're pregnant. It's not the first time for you so you should know this already." George explained while gesturing down to her slightly swollen belly. Ginny huffed, then squeezed herself in between George and Bill.

"It's not fair. Soon I'll swell up to the size of an elephant and there's nothing I can do to cheer me up." She glared enviously at the firewhiskey that was still in George's hand. "Even _mum_ have smoother skin than me at the moment. You're so lucky you're not pregnant Hermione…"

"Hey, I didn't even _want_ to try it out, in fact - I respectfully declined when offered, but George _tricked_ me!"

"Yes, and I still have the bruises to show for it, plus I'm still not able to-"

"You deserved it." The colour on Mione's cheeks had darkened slightly and it was evident that she was determined not to let George finish that sentence. Fred giggled when he thought about why that was and was thankful over the fact that she'd directed her anger at George and not him. Bill gave him a questioning look but he just answered "You don't want to know" with a grin.

Charlie started to whine and complain about his robes and he saw how his date efficiently left the conversation and walked over to the bulky man. She started to tugg and grab at the Dragonologist's robes, trying to make them less uncomfortable and while she was doing that he had the chance to see how well she'd cleaned up. He'd seen her dress earlier when they'd been in his flat looking for something he could wear, but after the snowy assault he'd been uncertain whether or not they'd be able to save it. It seemed like they'd been successful though, as the long sleeved 'Myrtle green'- maxi dress she was wearing looked as good as new. It was definitely not planned that the two of them would match, but the dress robes he was wearing had been the only ones that she'd been able to find in such short time, and they happened to be just slightly lighter in colour then her dress, it looked as if they'd coordinated their outfits to fit perfectly with each other. Her hairdo was really the only thing that had changed. Instead of the sleek bun she'd probably worked on for several hours to achieve, her curls were now more prominent and organized, and most of it now fell loosely down her back with a braid connecting the top layers, keeping it from falling in her face.

For a moment she turned back to look at him and gave her one of her pretty smiles, one he happily returned, but then she grimached.

"For the love of Merlin, Fred! Why haven't you done anything about your trousers yet? Do I really need to help you with _everything?_ "

He glanced down and realised that he'd completely forgotten that he was dripping onto the floor - something he blamed his brothers for -, and he met her eyes again with a sheepish smile.

She shook her head and started to walk back towards him, only stopping to pour herself a glass of firewhiskey. When she was by his side again after a few quick spells to dry him off, he nudged her and smiled down at her form.

"You look lovely, Mione."

"You don't look so bad yourself. So, what did you bet on? If I have to guess I'd say that they won't be able to break the record of four years, but it definitely won't be as bad as the last one either. I give it until April next year…"

A knowing smile played at her lips and he chuckled. Of course she'd know that they wouldn't be able to stop themselves from betting on Ron's marriage, she knew everything.

"Mione, Mione, Mione." He shook his head but grinned mischievously. "I haven't put in my share yet, but April next year sound probable. Half each if we win?" He lifted his hand and she shook it to seal the deal, then he turned to his siblings and announced their wager.

Not that he really hoped he would win, but she'd been right two times before so the odds were on his side.

They worked so well together.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Thanks to everyone who keeps reading, follow, favourite and review this story! I really love writing this and I hope you like to read it._

 _Next chapter will be up soon :)_

 _Love, RuneDraconis1080_


	6. Chapter 5

The wedding ceremony between Ron and Natalie Fairbourne was beautiful, but extremely boring, as usual. Why on earth the bloody thing had to last for about one hour, Fred had no idea. Why not get straight to the point? Do you promise to love, honor and respect each other? Yes. Do you promise to be faithful? Yes. 'Till death do you apart? Yes. Are you absolutely certain? Yes. Well then, please exchange wedding bands. Done? Okey, you lovebirds may now exchange saliva in front of your families and friends.

Simple, quick and surely far more interesting than listening to an old man talk about ancient traditions among witches and wizards, and especially emphasize the fact that even though love is not always easy, one should never think that divorce is an easy alternative. He had to admit though that it was quite amusing to see how the wizard who performed the ceremony, glared at the youngest Weasley brother during that part of the speech, and how the tips of Ron's ears in turn became bright red.

One could understand both of their reactions though.

Ronald Bilius Weasley had changed quite a lot after the war had ended. After six years of standing beside 'the Chosen One' during their school years, fighting off Death Eaters, rebelling against the High Inquisitor Professor Dumbridge with Dumbledore's Army, run from warewolves, a bloody basislisk, giant spiders, and more, not to mention Lord Voldy himself, then being on the run for almost a year doing Merlin knows what, he finally got the fame and attention he'd always craved while growing up.

While he basked in the glory of being part of the Golden Trio, his relationship with Mione had only lasted for two months, and for a short period of time he instead found company in several other women.

That was until he met Mandy Brocklehurst.

Of course he'd technically met her before, countless of times in fact, with the two of them being in the same year at Hogwarts only she was a Ravenclaw, but he used to describe their first meeting outside of Hogwarts and after the war, like seeing the sun for the first time. Really. His brother was that sappy.

He'd been hurt after one of his trainings to become an Auror, and she'd just started as a Healer at St. Mungos. Long story short - they fell madly in love with each other and married just about a year later, in June 2000.

Their marriage was passionate, spontaneous and filled with love, and they seemed to be perfect together.

After more than four years together as a married couple, the flame seemed to be burned out however, and several other reasons soon drove a wedge between them and they divorced.

Ron was heartbroken.

After that though, he became obsessed with the thought of having a family with a wife and kids, which is why he surprised everyone by marrying Parvati Patil in September 2005, one of the girls who shared a dormitory with Mione back at Hogwarts and ironically was the best friend of Lavender Brown, Ron's first girlfriend (who unfortunately died in the Final Battle). She's also the twin sister to the Ravenclaw student Padma Patil, with whom he went to the Yule ball with in his fourth year.

While their relationship also had been passionate, it was nothing compared to his first marriage with Mandy, and soon they started fighting about everything. They almost never saw each other because he was always off working on missions, and she traveled the world researching for her book about Seers and Divination (a subject she unfortunately never outgrew after her Hogwarts days, something that always made Mione frown deeply). Precisely one year later they too divorced.

His next wife after that, and the most recent one before Natalie, was Emma Dobbs, a Slytherin four years his junior. That marriage was bound to fail from the start. It was obvious to everyone (except for Ron) that she was only after his fame and fortune. Nowadays Fred knew better than to judge anyone depending on which house they'd been in at Hogwarts, something that was clear when you looked at his track record of his past and present lovers, but Emma Dobbs was unfortunately a prime example of how one would describe the "typical" Slytherin. She was beautiful, cunning and very manipulative.

Six months after parting ways with Parvati, Ron and Emma eloped to Venice in secret, not even Harry or Hermione knew, and because she hadn't even been properly introduced to the family yet, it was a vast understatement to say that everyone was taken aback when they arrived at the weekly Weasley dinner on a regular Sunday night, Ron escorting his new wife - who was wearing a dress worth a fortune to match the giant stone on her finger. Mrs. Weasley who, even though she didn't really approve of the lifestyle her youngest son had acquired since she heavily valued the "Married until death do us part"- tradition, still wished the best for her son and welcomed his previous wives with open arms, but even she snapped when he brought that wretched "fortune seeking" woman into her house. After two months of near to no contact between Ron and the rest of the family, he finally came back telling them that he'd caught her with another man and that he'd filed for a divorce.

And now here Fred was, just nine months later, attending the wedding between his youngest brother and wife number four.

* * *

He was sitting down by one of the tables close to the bar, and just a few feet away people were dancing and having a good time.

His mother, Molly, was standing on the other end of the tent, not so discreetly directing any witch she found suitable towards Charlie where he was sitting with a large glass filled with liquor and a sour expression on his face that efficiently prompted the approaching women to change their course.

His father, Arthur, was surrounded by several of his grandchildren, as well as Bill, Fleur and George. Angelina (his favourite sister-in-law for obvious reasons) stood a few feet away from them and seemed to be reprimanding Roxanne - who had sprinkled some of the 'Glow Up Dust' in some of her cousins hair, and now the bunch of blonde-, and dark haired Weasley offsprings were running around with glowing hair.

Percy and Audrey had left recently with their little girls as it was already many hours after nightfall, and Ginny was slow dancing with Harry with a huge smile on her face, and they both glanced towards where their youngest son Albus (2 years old) were sleeping before they turned their attention to the small swell on her stomach. They were in their own little world.

The bride and groom were also dancing in the middle of the dance floor, but compared to the couple previously mentioned, their moves wild and exhibited exactly in what state of intoxication they were currently in.

Several other familiar faces were present as well, Hannah and Neville Longbottom had showed up just like Hannah said they would, Lee and Katie Jordan, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Luna Lovegood, who unfortunately came without her boyfriend of a few years Rolf Scamander, as he was away studying some magical creature found in northern Sweden.

A few Hogwarts Professors had made a quick appearance, as well as some of Ron's old colleagues from when he worked as an Auror at the Ministry, but only Headmistress Minerva McGonagall and Hagrid were the ones that Fred recognized by name.

His thoughts were interrupted when his lovely date sat down next to him, two shots of his favourite muggle alcoholic beverage in her hands - tequila - as well as two slices of lime and a salt shaker.

"Even though I think that you really shouldn't have any more liquor in your system, I couldn't help but to feel sorry for you. I leave you here for just a few minutes when Seamus asked me to dance, and immediately a group of single women flock around you. You looked absolutely miserable."

He scowled and she laughed at his misery.

"There was so many of them! In any other situation I wouldn't mind the attention but _weddings_ , Mione! Weddings makes people crazy! I tried to be civil with them and engage in 'social intercourse' without being overly flirty, but _Merlin_ , it's difficult trying to suppress my natural charm."

To her defence, she really did try to muffle her giggles behind her delicate - but still ink stained and scarred - hand, but that only made her whole body shake, and he folded his arms in front of him while he pouted at her.

"Yes, I believe it must be extremely… _hard_ … for you to be surrounded by so many women without giving in to your urges to make a pass at any one of them." She smirked while he shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "You'd much rather skip the 'social' part, and move right to the ' _intercourse_ ', wouldn't you?"

Shaking his head at her cheekiness, he decided not to answer her because both of them already what she said was true. Instead he lifted his shot glass with a broad smile on his face and Mione did the same.

"Cheers."

"Cheers."

They chugged their shots, followed by the salt and the lime, then they ordered some dessert and Fred immediately reached over and grabbed a bite of Miones Pumpkin Pasty when it was served.

"Mmm, Merlin, I love Pumpkin Pastries! I'm only ordering that from now on."

"No you won't. I need you to order the Chocolate cake so I can have some."

While they were eating their (or rather each others) desserts, they were approached by a tired looking Harry and his eldest son, James II (4 years old), who seemed to be wide awake even though it was well after his bedtime. His hair, even though it was black like his fathers, had a faint glow to it, and Fred couldn't help but to snicker at the sight.

"Minnie!" James reached out to his godmother and was placed in her lap, and Mione had a look of pure adoration on her face, like she always had when he was around.

"Hello there, James. Are you having a good time? Is it fun to be around all of your cousins?"

"I'm almost _always_ around my cousins, Minnie, but we almost never get to stay up as late as we want to so this is great! Teddy's been teaching me, Dom and Luis how to fold the napkins into dragons and then Unkle Bill made them fly! It was super fun! And then Roxy put powder in our hair to make it glow, see?" The boy shoved his hair close to her face and almost knocked her over. "It looks so much better on Dom and Luis though, because their hair is 'strawberry blonde' - Vicky taught me that that's what it's called - but it doesn't show up as much on me, Albus or Freddie… I'm sure it would look incredible on Vicky, because her hair is almost white, or Teddy, because he can change it to anything he wants, but they got away before Roxy could put anything on them." James tugged at his hair irritably and glared at it, as if he hoped it would change colour on demand, like Teddy's.

Fred ruffled the little boys hair and laughed at his disapproval.

"Well then, young man. I guess we have to do something about that! Your input is valuable so that we can improve our products even more. We don't want for you to feel left out just because you have dark hair."

He wrote down a little reminder on one of the napkins around and put it in his pocket, then he turned to Harry while his date continued her conversation with her godson.

"Mate, you look exhausted." It was not a question to be answered, but the man in front of him sighed and dragged his hand over his face at the statement.

"You have no idea. I thought that things would calm down a bit for me after becoming Head of the Auror Office - it's not nearly as much field work -, but instead I work endlessly doing paperwork and bossing everyone around. And then I have two boys back home who does nothing but fight with each other, a wonderful and lovely wife, whom I love with all of my heart, but who also is pregnant and therefore _even more_ fiery than usual and gets the most bizarre cravings known to man in the middle of the night. And on top of all of this I still agree to be the Best Man at my best friend's wedding. For the fourth time." He sighed and sat down next to them, pouring himself a glass of water with a quick flick of his wand. Fred, who truly felt sympathetic for the 'Boy-Who-Lived-But-Only-Just-Barely' -, but at the same time thanked Merlin for the fact that he didn't have all, or even any of those things - just patted Harry on the shoulder in a comforting manner.

Hermione, who was now free to join in the conversation as James had run off to chase Fred II around the room in a game of 'tag' (something that was frowned upon by some of the guests), looked at her best friend of 17 years with a caring look in her eyes.

"I hope you take care of yourself too, Harry. I know you care about Ronald and his happiness, I do too, but this can be a bit too much to handle with everything going on in your life."

"I know, I know. Well, I hope he's happy with Natalie - it sure seems that way!"

Fred scoffed at that.

"It's _ridiculous_ , that's what it is. Someone needs to tell him that. _I'm_ going to tell him exactly that."

"Fred, don't you dare!" Mione slapped him lightly on his head and sent him a piercing glare.

"What? It's not like he really loves any of them anyway! He gets married and I go - we all go - because we care for him, but he's making a huge mistake. He does know he can just _date_ , right?"

"You can't say anything, not now! Not on his _wedding day!_ " She hissed at him dangerously.

"Well, then I honestly don't know what to say to him."

"When someone's making a mistake and it's not your place to interfere - just say 'I'm happy you're happy'. Works for us, right Harry?"

Harry was looking at them with an amused smile on his face, and there was something in his eyes that Fred couldn't quite place. It confused him.

"What? Oh, right. Yes, that works for us…"

"Oh come on! You're his best friends! Surely at least the two of you must be able to reason with him!"

His eyes traveled between them as shared a silent conversation with their eyes and facial expressions, something they'd perfected over the years.

"We've tried many times…" Harrys answer was hesitant, "but you know how stubborn Ron can be. He still refuse to talk about anything related to her and we've learned not to tick him off by bringing it up…" He sighed. "He really was happy and excited while getting ready earlier but…"

"...But she's not Mandy." Hermione finished for him.

They all glanced towards the couple that was now convercing loudly with his mother, and Mr. and Mrs. Fairbourne.

"He's a bloody wanker, he is."

After a moment of silence, a sudden clap startled him and he almost jumped from his seat, glaring at Harry who made the the sound. The previous 'Undesirable nr. 1' chuckled and Mione smirked at his reaction and he seriously considered to pull a nasty prank at him for succeeding to startle him with that simple action.

"Well, I did not come over here to get all gloomy and serious, two words I definitely didn't think I'd _ever_ use in _your_ presence Fred, but now I really feel like I need to go find my wife to cheer me up, the perfect opportunity since the kids are occupied." He wiggled his eyebrows and for what must be the first time he could remember, Fred couldn't think of anything to retort. Instead he just stared at the man in front of him with a shocked and insulted expression, that was soon joined by a look of disgust as unwanted images of his sister invaded his mind at the innuendo. The two best friends that were brother and sister in anything but blood could barely breathe from laughing so much, and he noticed that many guests turned to look at what was making so much noise.

After Harry's goodbye he pouted gloomily at the wicked witch.

"Sure, laugh at my expense. Be my guest."

"I'm sorry, Fred, but that was _too funny!_ " Her chest heaved while trying to catch her breath, and he figured he would deliberately stare at her delicate cleavage as revenge. Only as revenge. But she better not catch where he was peering.

"What's going on here that's so funny?"

They both sobered up at the voice and a half genuine, half plastered smile graced their faces as if they'd been jinxed. Ron and Natalie had appeared where Harry had been only a few moments ago, and they were grinning widely.

"Ron!" Hermione's voice was only a little bit strained at the exclamation, but he was certain the happy couple didn't notice. After all, she'd probably used that same tone with Ron in more than half of their conversations, as she usually was or became irritated for the most part when they were having their discussions, and he probably thought that was just her way of talking in his presence. Even though that was not the case here, if you listened closely, you could hear it in her voice that there was something wrong.

"Hello, Herms!" Ron gave her a kiss on each cheek in a warm greeting, shook Fred's hand, then his wife proceeded to do the same, except instead of a handshake she gave him a tight hug.

"Congratulations you two! It was a wonderful ceremony, and the party is great!" She sure knew what to say in situations like these and both Ron and Natalie beamed at each other in response.

"That, my dear wife, is a wonderful compliment coming from Herms here. She rarely sees the fun in letting loose, and often have more important things to do, but she can be quite fun when those rare moments do occur! And she really is the most driven person I've ever met."

Both Fred and Hermione frowned at the comment. Sure, she'd been stuck up at Hogwarts, but in the later years she'd started to get more and more comfortable with the thought of letting go and relaxing. She'd always enjoyed to have fun - that had not changed - but she'd become better at separate her work life from her personal life. And though driven was one of her many positive attributes, it was certainly not the first word he would use to describe her.

"Thank you, Ronald." It was stated more like a question.

Natalie, who worked as a reporter and therefore was a quite observant woman, realised that her husband's remark was not very well received, and immediately tried to ease the conversation.

"Ron, dearest, I know you mean well but sometimes you can be a little inept when choosing your words." She turned to the two of them, who both had poorly hidden surprise on their faces. "What I believe my husband meant to say is that we're very happy you enjoy this special occasion and wanted to share this day with us."

"Sure…" ' _Special occasion_ '... it didn't feel very special seeing it was his brothers fourth wedding. He looked between the two, took a breath- "You know, Ron, there's something I'd like to say to you. It's that-" A sharp pain shot up from where Mione had kicked him on his leg, discreetly but hard, and he turned to look at her for a moment but she had a sickly sweet smile on her face and he realised that she'd never talk to him again if he dared to say what was on his mind.

He sighed and plastered a smile on his face when he faced the others, who were slightly confused by his antics.

"I'm- I'm happy you're happy, little brother." Was it his imagination or did his brother tear up?

"Thank you, Fred!" He smiled and turned to his wife. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm stealing you away."

A quick goodbye and then, at last, they were alone again. And Mione was fuming.

"I can't believe you were actually about to do it! What were you _thinking_? You're _lucky_ I was here to save your blasted arse, otherwise you'd be dead right now! Ron would've killed you, then your mother, and then I would _personally_ have brought you back to life only to finish you off myself. Merlin, you're an idiot! Remind me again; _why_ I'm friends with you?"

Maybe he really shouldn't have had that last shot of tequila. Obviously he'd been on the verge of making a huge mistake, sabotaging his brother's happy day and she was right, this was definitely not the time or place to have that conversation.

"Because you love me?" He was so full of shame he didn't notice her blinking as she lost her composure for a short second. "Anyway, thank you for saving my pissed arse from a certain death. I'm forever in your debt."

"You do know that I write it down every time you say that, right?" She gave him a small smirk and he laughed. He wouldn't put it past her.

* * *

Even though he really shouldn't have, he did have one or two more drinks as the festivities progressed.

He'd spent some time with George and Lee while his date decided to abandon him to dance again, this time with Charlie, and at midnight the twins had decided to lightly prank some of the guests by following in Roxys footsteps and sprinkled the 'Glow Up Dust' in their hair. They had considered to switch out a few of the candies to their 'Weight Bait Gumballs' - which was one of their more evil pranks as it made its victims swell up a few pounds for a couple of hours, but even with alcohol in their system they thought it would be to mean. And Hermione hated them.

It was close to 2AM when they could be seen sitting down together once again, a comfortable silence between them as they watched the other guests. The crowd was slowly thinning out, but he figured it would be another one or two hours before everyone had left.

The music had slowed down a bit and now couples were holding on to each other on the dance floor. Since the Weasley kids were now sound asleep in the main house, he looked around and saw the majority of his siblings (everyone really, except for Charlie and himself) dance with their respective spouse, and even his parents were swaying while staring lovingly at each other.

He glanced at the brunette by his side. Her makeup had faded somewhat, and that, together with the warm fluids of alcohol that had entered her system, gave her face a pink flush - especially the tip of her nose. Her hair was surprisingly enough still in place, and he wondered why she never used whatever products and spells she'd used today everyday, but then he realised that he'd miss her frizzy mess if she gave it up. It gave her an interesting edge and she stood out from the rest of the dolled up women with perfect hair and makeup.

He was so happy that she'd agreed to come with him as his date once again, he'd be so alone otherwise. Because of her he never felt left out in the sea of couples that surrounded him daily, something he suspected was one of the reasons that Charlie loved working in Romania so much these days. The bloke had only ever had two girlfriends (that they knew of at least) but that didn't hold up for long. Perhaps his brother played for the other team?

He realised that he'd stared at her for a bit to long and quickly left her form with his eyes, and in doing so he saw a swift movement of 'scarlet red' searching for something amidst the crowd. The 'scarlet red' turned out to be a form fitting, floor length dress on a curvaceous and tan body, and his interest was peaked. Until he saw her face. Under a sleek hairdo almost as red as her dress, was a pretty square face, a pointy nose and round eyes that he recognized all to well.

"Oh Melin! What's _she_ doing here? I thought there was no press allowed at the wedding? _Hide me!_ "

Mione turned to him with a confused look on her face.

"What?"

"It's Rose Zeller, you know - the Hufflepuff? She's here."

She started to look for the woman to whom he was referring, and he was afraid that her actions would give away his position. He cowered behind her as best to his abilities as she was much smaller than he was.

"Don't look, _don't look!_ She'll find me!" He tried to turn her face away.

The brunette looked down at him with disapproval in her face.

"What did you do, that makes you so afraid for her to see you? Did you ditch her and she reacted badly?"

"No. She's the reporter that's obsessed with me!"

"The one who wrote '50 things to love about Fred Weasley'? I love that article! I have it framed in my flat! You know that Natalie works as a reporter for _Spella Weekly_ , right? They're probably colleagues" Once again she began to look around, this time with a look of excitement on her face. He glared at her.

"She's _mental_ , that one!"

She sniggered.

"Come on, dance with me!"

He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the dance floor, all while hunching down to stay out form Miss. Zeller's sight. "Watch yourself."

Mione, who now had found the one they were hiding from, turned to him with a teasing smile. "You know, she's kind of cute."

"Oh, stop it."

"I'm serious!" But even though it was true that Rose was quite the looker, it was obvious that she only said that to pester him. He figured that she'd realised that even though he tried his best to avoid the woman at the moment, that was certainly not the case in the past. Yes. He had flirted shamelessly with her when they first met, but before they'd been able to shag, he'd come to terms with the fact that she was a nutter, and put an end to things. But she was _persistent_.

"Here, right here." Finally he stopped in the most crowded part in the middle of the dance floor. "Hide me! Back - side - side - go - walk - up - side -" He guided her to move her head in the direction he mentioned, something she did quite well, until Rose finally disappeared from his sight.

Instead of letting go, he continued to sway with her in his arms. She fitted to his mold rather well.

"You know, her latest article covered a close to two page description of my face. See, _she_ doesn't think my nose is to big, or my upper lip is too thin." He smirked down at her as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Who said that?"

"You did. On New Year's eve nine years ago."

"Oh… Well, If I remember correctly I said that your nose is a bit _bigger_ , and you upper lip a bit _thinner_ than your _twin brothers_. And the haircut you had was truly hideous. I never said that _I_ think your nose is _too_ big, or your lip _too_ thin. I thought you were rather attractive, especially in those red briefs of yours, but there was no way I was going to confess that in that moment." He was surprised by her confession and he couldn't help the wide grin that appeared on his face.

"Really? Why not?"

"You told me that I reminded you of Madam Pince and Mrs. Norris. You do know that Mrs. Norris is a cat, do you? Not the most flattering thing to be compared to, and especially not her." Oh, right. He _had_ said that she reminded him of Mrs. Norris. She didn't, and she never had. She did have that librarian vibe though, but that was definitely not a bad thing.

"You didn't seem to appreciate my flirting, so I gave up trying to sleep with you because that pillow assault was painful and I didn't want to be at the receiving end of it again."

"You tried to sleep with _me_?" He nodded in response. "Just out of curiosity, why haven't you tried since?" Somehow the question weighed heavier between them than they were used to and he searched her face for some kind of reaction when he answered.

"Well… I like having you in my life." She gave a small smile that seemed to say more than he could read, but he grew tired from the tension that suddenly surrounded him, and decided it was time to liven up the atmosphere, so he twirled her in a circle, then dipped her.

"Hi Fred!" The nasal, high pitched voice interrupted them and when he looked up he was faced with Rose Zeller's dark blue eyes, staring intently at him. Bugger.

"Oh, hi…" _Shit._

"Did you read my new article?" He needed to get rid of her as quickly as possible.

"Err..." He looked down and realised that he still had Mione in a dip, only a few inches from the floor. "... No, _we_ haven't!" He swung her up and held her close. With their matching outfits he was certain they looked like a real couple.

The red head frowned deeply and looked between them.

"What are you doing with _Hermione Granger?_ "

"Mione? Oh, you know - she's my girlfriend!" He started to lead them away but the persistent reporter followed closely behind.

"Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone?" Her voice was getting louder and more frustrated by the second.

"Because I don't know you! We met once, that's it!" Suddenly his date decided to interfere and make things much more difficult for him, something she was well aware of.

"We have a really _open relationship_ though."

"Really?" The hope was evident in Rose's voice so he pinched Mione on her bum, as revenge, but the action was also obvious enough for his stalker to see.

"You know, I've been wanting to talk with you about that… _Princess_." The sweet nickname was foreign in his mouth, he was not one for lovey-dovey actions or names. It had an affect on Zeller though and she looked crestfallen. "I- I don't wanna be with anyone but you."

The frown that graced his partners face looked genuine, but he saw the challenge glisten in her eyes.

"I don't know if I'm really quite ready to make that kind of _commitment_..." Oh, she was so going to get it. "You know, me and my _rules_." She smiled sweetly at the woman while pressing her cheek against his. "I have a bit of a problem with emotional responsibilities. But I do love this man."

Rose huffed dangerously and looked at her with a sour and vengeful expression, but Mione didn't scare easily.

"I think I need to go start writing my new article now. Bye Fred!" with one last look she walked away. He still didn't want for her to turn around and realise that they were faking it so he stayed put. His body started to vibrate and he noticed that Mione was laughing quietly in his arms.

"How much are you willing to bet that she'll turn all 'Rita Skeeter' on me? It'll be fun."

"She's nothing but trouble. It's a good thing you're so powerful and can take care of yourself."

He continued to sway with her close to his body, enjoying the feeling, all while watching Rose as she moved further away and finally disappeared from view.

He immediately let go.

"Okay, good… She's gone! _Perfect_. Let's go."

He turned around towards where Mione stood and wondered what was taking her so long. She seemed stunned by something, but he was too impatient to reflect why that was.

"What?"

She shook her head and then she was back to normal, gave him a small smile, and followed his lead back to the bar.


	7. Chapter 6

February 7th, 2008

The first thing he noticed when he slowly started to wake up, was the incredibly soft material he was pressed against. He was laying down on something much more cushiony than he was used to and it felt like he was practically swallowed by whatever it was. Still, it took him much longer that it should have to register that he was not laying in his own bed, but once his senses caught up with him, the stiffness in his back was telling enough. When he finally had gathered up enough energy to peek through hooded eyes, the second thing he noticed was the blinding light that filled the entire room. Following that came the exploding headache he was all too familiar he tried to get a grip on his whereabouts by squinting his eyes, but he quickly decided that the action was not worth it and instead he tried to turn away from the brightness, the movement causing him to groan loudly as he felt the world spin.

He had no idea what time it was but he was sure it was not nearly enough for him to get up, so he tried his best to fall back to sleep, however, it became more apparent the longer he was laying there that nature was calling, and no matter how much he tried to will it away, he simply couldn't ignore it for much longer. With a deep sigh that turned into another groan, he slowly sat himself up with creaky movements and the adjustment from a horizontal to vertical position made his head pound even more vigorously.

When he was finally able to open his eyes and they had adapted to the brightness, he realised that he was in fact in a room he was very familiar with. Two pale pink curtains framed the window (his current torture source), and on the windowsill was a peculiar looking plant that was given as a gift to the resident woman by Neville Longbottom, on the light wooden floor was a large fluffy rug that he'd spent countless of hours on when spending time with her, and in the middle of it was a small coffee table that, just as always, was drowned in parchment and books. The moss green sofa he'd been sleeping on, faced a small, thick tv (it'd taken her days and several wards and enchantments to be able to make it function in the magical environment), but the most prominent clue as to who lived there was, of course, the _massive_ bookshelves filled with books that surrounded the majority of the creamy walls.

He had no idea how he'd ended up in Miones flat after yesterday's festivities, but it was definitely not the first time he'd woken up there after a night out in her company.

A sudden sway of something orange at the corner of his eye startled him, and he quickly turned his head towards it, only to be greeted by the ugly, squashed face of Crookshanks, Hermione's trusty old half-kneazle, who surely must have lived way beyond a regular cat's life expectancy. Crooks yellow eyes was glaring at him for disturbing his sleep where he was at the edge of the sofa, but Fred had to admit that he was quite happy that the feline-ish creature trusted him enough to sleep in his presence, even more surprisingly - in such close proximity to him. He was actually rather fond of the ginger animal, though it had a tendency to want, and be able to, mercilessly destroy all his joke products, which was one of the reasons why Mione now had a "No Weasley Wizard Wheezes-products" rule in her flat - although he knew she had a small secret stash hidden in one of her bedroom cabinets in case someone really ticked her off.

He stretched, patted the half-kneazle, and said an incoherent greeting - "Mornin' Crooks" - while a yawn escaped him. Crooks only blinked in return, then adjusted himself before going back to sleep. Oh, how he envied the action, but no - he had pressing matters to attend to.

He struggled for a bit trying to stand up, his leg wobbly and the soreness in his back even more noticeable, but he managed to find some sort of balance and started to move towards the loo at the end of the hall, one hand on the wall guiding him and making sure he stayed upright.

When he finally reached the bleached green, wooden door, a familiar and uncomfortable feeling started to flare up in his chest - the proof that his body was fighting the toxic liquids he'd poured himself yesterday -, and he was unsure which pressure would demand first priority - the one in his chest, or the one on his bladder. Instead of stopping to think about it, he reached for the doorknob and pulled on it- only to find that it was locked. To make matters even worse, he realised that the shower was on.

Oh, Merlin's left testicle - this could _not_ be happening.

"Mione open up!" He pounded on the door, and winched as the loud noise echoed in his already sensitive head, but it gave him a small sense of justice when he heard the groan coming from the other side.

"Wait for your turn, Fred, I'm almost done!"

"Mione, I'm about to explode here, and if you don't let me in I can't be held responsible for what will happen to your kitchen zink."

By now he was practically dancing on the spot, trying to distract himself, and he wished he had his wand with him, then he could simply cast a quick ' _Alohomora_ ' and be done with it.

When his threat didn't have the desired effect, he went back to pounding on the door, harder and louder this time, and thankfully he was then able to hear the shower being turned off, being replaced by something rustling around instead.

" _Mioneee!_ "

"Give me just a _second_ , Fred! And I promise that if you pound on that door one more time, I will pound on you, understood?"

The door opened and the vision that appeared in front of him caught him by surprise for just a split second.

Her delicate frame was covered only by a white towel, and her wet, curly hair clung to her back and shoulders, dripping onto the floor. It was only because they were so comfortable around each other that she allowed him to see so much of her bare skin, and he was confused as to why he suddenly felt the urge to reach out at touch it to see if it really was as smooth and slick as it seemed. Her brown eyes were half shut under tired eyelids, and the dark circles underneath gave off more of a contrast to her face than usual, though this didn't stop her from giving him her usual irritated look.

In her mouth was her purple toothbrush, and in the corner he could see a trace of toothpaste.

He squeezed past her as another wave of nuresia washed over him.

"Mione love, not only is the content of my stomach about to come back up, but I'm also about to whip out my most impressive and valuable body part, and even though I definitely don't mind if you stay, I do think that you would never be able to view me only as a _friend_ if you did."

True to his words he started to pull his briefs down, and her irritated look was replaced by one of shock at his action, before she quickly turned around and slammed the door shut. The loud bang was amplified by the acoustics in the room and it was extremely painful.

By the time he was finished, the smell of omelettes had started to fill the air, and being the Weasley boy he was, he never said no to something to eat, it didn't matter that he'd just had his entire stomach turned inside out - Mione's omelettes were simply the _best_.

He washed his hands, grabbed his toothbrush - because of course he had his own toothbrush at her place - and made sure to get rid of the disgusting taste that lingered in his mouth, then proceeded to walk to the kitchen.

He hoped that she had some hangover potion left that he could drink with his breakfast. He needed it. _Badly_.

He sat down in one of the chairs by the plain white table, watching as she finished up. She had (of course) changed from wearing nothing but a towel and now wore a pale blue blouse, matched with a pair of jeans and nothing on her feet. Her hair, which was still wet, was in a sloppy bun at the nape of her neck. She looked very casual and comfortable, but still somewhat put together, and he wondered what her secret was for her to be able to match anything at all after a night out.

He himself was without a shirt, the one he wore to the wedding was probably in her tiny pile of laundries, but he knew that he would find one of his old jerseys, as well as a pair of sweatpants neatly folded on the desk behind the sofa in the living room. Like mentioned earlier, this was not the first time he'd woken up in her flat.

For the time being he settled with just wearing his black briefs that had tiny Golden Snitches flying around from time to time on them, he was confident enough without more clothes on, and nowadays his undressed state didn't faze her one bit either, but a small part of him missed the way her cheeks had deepened so many years ago at the sight of him wearing next to nothing.

He massaged his temples as the headache he had only increased in intensity, and he glanced her way, trying his best to make her feel sorry for him, but she simply shook her head and instead placed two plates with the glorious omelette on the table in front of him, complete with two cups of Lavender tea, then she seated herself on the chair opposite him.

"First you need to eat, _then_ you can have some Hangover-potion."

He scowled, but the omelette teased his nostrils too much for him to fight her over it. He did know that it wouldn't have much of an effect without anything in his stomach to absorb it anyhow.

He dug in and she did the same, and for a while they ate in silence, but she soon started up a conversation.

"So... I spoke with Professor McGonagall yesterday, and we discussed my progress on translating 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' from the original. I don't know if you remember, but she did grant me permission to include Professor Dumbledore's personal notes on each tale, and I told her that I'm just about ready to borrow them. If all goes well I will be able to publish the book later this year."

He smiled and was genuinely happy for her because he knew how hard she'd worked on translating that book from the original edition in ancient runes that was given to her after Headmaster Dumbledore's death after her sixth year at Hogwarts. Even though there had been many sleepless nights and a lot of frustration at times during the last few of months, she was finally about to publish her first book, something he knew she'd dreamed about since she was a little girl (her mother, Joanne Granger, had told him many stories about his favourite brunette's childhood over the years).

"That's great! I'm so happy for you Madam Author! Imagine that, your first published book of many."

She laughed and smiled fondly at him.

"Yes, I can't believe I'm almost done already. It's really been interesting and fun working on it…"

For some reason Fred got the feeling that she wasn't as excited about it as she acted and the thought bothered him. Actually, now when he reflected on it, it seemed as if something was different this morning. Had he done something stupid yesterday? Or rather- had he done something even more stupid than normal yesterday, during or after the wedding?

She was distant, almost as if she was keeping a secret from him and it frustrated him. They didn't keep secrets from each other.

She got up and got the small vial of Hangover-potion from one of the cabinets, as well as two glasses of water, then she put a couple of the lilac drops in both of them before she gave him one and kept the other for herself. It had a horrible taste to it and to wash away the foul flavour she squeezed a lemon so that a few drops landed in her tea and focused on drinking that instead. While she was busy with all of that he gathered up the courage to ask what on earth was going on.

"Mione?" A small hum said he had her attention. "Is something wrong?"

She looked at him, obviously confused by his question. It was incredible, almost comical, how much bigger her doe eyes could get and the smile she then offered calmed him down a bit, but she was yet to say something.

"Fred, why would you think something's wrong?"

"I know you, and something is bothering you - so spill."

As if all air had left her and she sighed deeply while leaning back in her chair, and a few moments of silence passed before she finally revealed what was on her mind.

"It's just… I'm _so bored_."

He frowned. Although this was not really news to him, he had after all heard her complain about the lack of a thrill for quite some time now, but it was obviously something that bothered her more than she had previously let on.

He adjusted himself in his chair, making himself comfortable, and as he waited for her to elaborate, he sipped on the hot beverage in front of him.

"I mean, I got the job at the 'Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' so that I could improve the absurd laws concerning the House Elves, and it succeeded far beyond my imagination with S.P.E.W being recognized as a semi-department, in addition to the stricter law regulations when it comes to the treatment and salary of every employed House Elf. I'm pleased with the outcome, even though they might have been somewhat uncooperative and weary at first, I know their lives are slowly but surely improving for the better. But it's been _three years_ since then. I've been working a little with Alice and the Werewolf Unit at the Beast Division, trying to help with making Wolfsbane Potion available to everyone, but other than that there's not much I can do right now without actually working that division. For the past two years I've been sitting at my desk doing boring paperwork, reviewing violation-cases and just twirling my wand between my fingers. I'm so bored, Fred!"

Even though he'd picked up on the fact that she'd been sitting on this for a while, this outburst definitely took him by surprise. He'd never thought he would live to see the day when the _Hermione Granger_ complained about paperwork. It amused him how her hair, that slowly dried up, became the curly but frizzy mess that he was so used to, the bun not doing much to keep it in place, and it was almost as if it gave off sparks as she verbally exploded.

"The reason I'm already almost finished with translating 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' is because I've hardly had anything else to do during the days. I feel useless and I'm so incredibly _bored._ " She sighed again and he felt a bit sorry for her.

From the age of 12 she'd always been right in the middle of action and adventures, and even though he knew that she never enjoyed it - who would, she was fighting against a megalomaniac and tyrannical wizard and other dark creatures with her two best friends -, but she'd grown used to a life on the edge. She was and would forever be 'The Brightest Witch of her Age', and he was impressed by her academic achievements, but could that really be enough for her? For a while it might have been what she needed, but she was not meant to sit around and do nothing all day.

"Well, since you enjoyed translating that book so much, perhaps you should think about writing another one? You could write anything you wanted - new study material for students, a biography, or anything really!" The corners of her mouth lifted into a small smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes. While he studied her he saw how tired she really was, and it was not only from yesterday's festivities, and he leaned forward and grabbed her hand on the table, only as a friendly gesture of support of course.

"I don't think I would want to write as a full time job, though I know it takes up a lot of time and I really enjoy doing the research. No, I really think I just need something - a twist to make my job _interesting_ again. A change of scenery would do me good."

He smirked. "Are you saying that you're thinking about requesting to be transferred to the Beast Division?"

"No Fred, I- Do you remember a few years ago when The President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, Peony Moncrieffe, was here on an official visit and I was invited, along with Harry and Ron, to dine with her and Minister Shacklebolt?"

"Hm, It's all I think about." He had no idea where she was going with this and he tried to ease the tension. She slapped his hand loosely and leaned back though a small giggle did slip out.

"Stop it. Well anyways, she was really impressed with what I'd done and did mention then that if I was ever interested in working with MACUSA, I would be more than welcome to do so…"

Her words immediately got his attention and he sat up straighter in his chair. It was almost as if this whole conversation had led up to this moment and he was suddenly filled with unease as she fidgeted nervously with her cup and refused to look him in the eyes.

"Really?" He tried his best to sound interested, but failed miserably when in reality his mind was all over the place trying to figure out what she was saying.

"Yes, and I haven't really considered it before, but during the last couple of months I've been having some contact with the Director of 'The Body for Protection of Magical Species' and, I don't know, I just think it's interesting to hear about the differences. One can argue that the 'Ministry of Magic' here in Britain has its flaws with old and outdated laws that are poorly executed, but compared to the magical society in America, we're pretty well off. Did you know that it wasn't until 1979 that American wizards and witches were allowed to marry muggles, that's _11 years_ after _interracial_ marriages became legal to the _muggles_ in America, and even today the laws are extremely strict. Almost all resources go to the 'Agency for the Protection of Wizarding Secrecy' because it's so important for them to stay hidden, which one can understand after the Salem Witch trials in 1692-1693 and it's a really large country, but it's also because of this that they're lacking in so many other departments - and even compared to how it was before I started my work at the ministry, the 'Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' is much more advanced and disciplined compared to the almost non existent American equivalent."

Even though he wasn't at all happy about the direction in which he could see that this conversation was heading, he was still amazed over how passionately she spoke about it, and it was obviously something she'd researched for quite some time. She had a spark in her eyes, and her body leaned forward towards him the same way it always did when she was eager to tell him something she found interesting. He did vaguely remember her casually mentioning something about exchanging some work related letters with some foreign department before Christmas last year, but she hadn't mentioned it since. Hm.

"Anyway…" She grabbed her vine wood wand, gave it a quick flick, and a moment later a small envelope swished from the living room and floated in the air between them. Without a word she opened it, than she gave the parchment inside for him to read.

* * *

 _Dear Miss. Hermione Granger,_

 _I can't tell you how much I have appreciated our correspondence over the last couple months, and I'm happy that you have opened up to the idea of a collaboration between our two departments. I consider it a privilege to be able to work and delve into improving the laws we have here in the States with such an intelligent woman as yourself._

 _As you are very well aware, I've been following your work closely over the years with interest, and I think that your experience aligns well with the qualifications we need here at 'The Body for Protection of Magical Species', particularly your work with 'The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare', and I would like to once again extend the offer given to you by Madam President Peony Moncrieffe and myself, to come work with us here at 'The Magical Congress of the United States of America' in New York, that way you could personally oversee the progress that is made, as well as help with finalizing the laws that are still in the making. Of course, we realize that you are not personally part of the American Magical Society, and therefore have no power in the actual legalization or writing of the bills, but you have skillfully developed laws in Britain to help improve the lives of many House Elves, and made sure they are followed, so we would gladly rely on your advice._

 _In a letter of recommendations we received from the Head of your department, Mr. Davey Gudgeon, and the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, we have information that you're a hard worker with the excellence in these fields especially:_

 _ **\- Keeping projects moving (timelines, and deadlines)**_

 _ **\- Forecasting potential problems and work to solve them before they appear**_

 _ **\- Eye for details, and have several options that will work for most**_

 _In addition to your experience and personal interest, I also take into consideration your impressive 'Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test', where you earned top scores (Outstanding) in all seven subjects._

 _We would like to welcome the opportunity to contribute to your ongoing growth and success, by offering you a job as an advisor here at 'The Body for Protection of Magical Species' for a period of three months, during which we would have the time to offer a cultural and professional exchange._

 _Please consider my offer and get back to me as soon as possible._

 _If you wish to know additional details regarding the job or other things, such as accommodations etc., feel free to send me a letter and I will answer any questions you may have._

 _If you choose to accept, I will follow up to request an appointment to further discuss the details, and make sure you're as comfortable as possible._

 _Thank you for your consideration,_

 _Sincerely,_

 _ **Fermin Dunn** ,_

 _Director of 'The Body for Protection of Magical Species', **MACUSA**_

 _Woolworth Building, New York_

 _January 26th, 2008_

* * *

Fred only stared at the words in front of him, his mind going blank. Was she going to America? And more importantly, was she really going to leave him here? He read the letter again and again. January 26th, that was almost two weeks ago. He wondered why she hadn't she mentioned anything about this before now.

"Fred, say something." He finally lifted his gaze to meet her eyes, and he could see the insecurities in them, so no matter how much it hurt, he had to be strong and at least try and be happy for her. This was an incredible opportunity.

"When are you going?" He knew it wasn't a question about _weather or not_ she was going. She was. But he hoped he had some more time before then so he could prepare himself.

"I leave on Wednesday, than I have a couple of days to settle in to my hotel room, adjust to the timezone and explore the city, before I start working on the following Monday."

She was going away to America to stay there for three months, and he only had a couple of days before she left. In his mind he started to panic. Really, what would he do without her for three months? He forced himself to calm down.

"Why didn't you tell me? This is great!" He plastered on a smile and he hoped to Merlin that she wouldn't notice how fake it really was. She could usually read his face like an open book, but he tried his best to act as excited and happy as possible.

"I didn't know how. It's a big adjustment and three months is a long time… Though I'm sure you'll see that the time will pass quick enough, you probably won't even notice I'm gone."

He huffed at the impossible suggestion.

"Do you really think it's great?"

"Yes, It's a great opportunity for you. You're the _'House Elf Advocate'_." He had to repeat that sentence in his head several times trying to convince himself. She smiled happily and took another sip of her tea, her body instantly becoming much more relaxed. His was forgotten on the table. As was the rest of the Hangover-Potion.

"It's has a nice ring to it. Thank you." This time, she was the one to grab his hand and weirdly it felt as if his skin was on fire from her touch.

"Congratulations."

He managed to muster the most genuine smile yet on his face and decided that he could not let this come between them. He really only had today to spend time with her and he wasn't going to waste the day on brooding.

"What am I going to do without you?"

"I can only imagine." Despite himself, he let out a small laugh at her cheeky answer, then he surprised her by standing up and started to move towards the entrance in the living room, still only in his briefs. She followed him and the expression on her face only grew more confused the closer he got to the door that led out from the flat.

"Fred, What on earth are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just going to go jump off a bridge."

" _What?!_ Merlin, Fred! _Stop!_ " He opened the door and moved out to the hallway.

"Yup, I'm going to jump. Three months, Mione! How am I to _survive_ without you for _three months?_ " The smirk on his face told her that he was only teasing her but she still grabbed his hand roughly and pulled him inside with a displeased expression on her face, and he could feel that the serious mood from before had passed, thankfully.

"Can't you take anything seriously?"

"Sure I can. I take my joke shop very seriously." He grinned and quickly moved away from her as she tried to swat his arm, but she gave up soon enough.

"Come on, let's get you some more of that delicious Hangover-Potion. By the way? Can you take care of Crooks for me while I'm gone? I know that Ginny would be more than happy to, but I'm afraid my old companion would be smothered to death by James and Albus..."

As if he knew they spoke of him - which to be fair, he probably did - , the orange furrball jumped up in her arms and she scratched him fondly behind his ears. Fred agreed to take care of the half-kneazle, then they got the Hangover-Potion and tea from the kitchen and moved to sit on the sofa, enjoying the rest of the day in each others company.

He sure would miss her, but the more he thought about it, the easier it became. After all, she would only be gone for three months, and what could _really_ change in that period of time?

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello everyone! I'm sorry it's taken me some time to post this chapter, I'm working like crazy and I've not had as much time to write as I expected to, but here you go! I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and the next chapter will be up soon!

*I was a bit unsure about what name I wanted to give Mrs. Granger, but I finally settled for Joanne for two reasons - I looked up which names were most popular in Britain in 50's - 60's and Joan was in #45 according to the most common girl names in the 50's, and Joanne was #22 according to the most common names of 1964, secondly I thought it would be a nice nod to the creator of the beautiful world of Harry Potter - Joanne K Rowling (and it's her birthday today, yay!), and funnily enough I realised after already posting this chapter, that the mother in the movie 'Made of Honor' is named Joan so it worked out perfectly!

Thanks to all of you who keep reading, follow, favourite and review my stories, you have no idea how much it means to me!

I would very much appreciate it if you were to check out my new oneshot 'His Grieving Moment' and leave some love!

 _"He had nothing, then he gained everything only to lose it all once more. How does one go on when the only people to really matter disappear from existence, leaving him all alone to mourn their loss? The shadow of the life they shared still present to haunt the one place he was free to be himself. REMUS LUPIN - Inspiration from the song 'Empty Chairs At Empty Tables' from Les Mis."_

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	8. Chapter 7

February 10th, 2008

Fred was feeling very sullen.

He'd taken the afternoon off from work to be able to say goodbye to Hermione as she left for New York, and her portkey, which had been set to leave at 03.46PM from her boss's, Mr. Gudgeons office, had left just about three hours ago. He had not been alone, Harry had also been present for her departure, and he knew that this was very difficult for him as well. Ron, who was away on his honeymoon, was of course unable to attend, but Mione confessed to him that she'd already said her goodbye to him before he left, something that bothered Fred deeply - Ickle Ronniekins had known that she would leave before him -, but he knew it was ridiculous of him to be jealous of his own little brother. It made sense that she'd told Ron before he left, he could only imagine how hurt he would have been otherwise if he returned and she was gone without giving him a chance to say a proper goodbye. The trio had not been separated for such a long period of time since Hermione decided to go back to Hogwarts for her final year nine years ago, and even then they'd been able to see each other from time to time during her Hogsmeade visits.

This was something else and everyone knew it.

Last night, his mother had managed to gather the whole family (except for the newly weds of course, and Charlie who was back at work in Romania) for a "Farewell and Good Luck!"- dinner at the Burrow, even though she was a bit cross over the fact that she was told of the surprising news at the last minute, but Mione had assured her that the only reason she'd waited to tell anyone was because she didn't want to take away focus from the wedding, and for the rest of the evening his mum had been crying and hugging the poor woman, telling her that she must make sure to eat properly, and take good care of herself. When she wasn't engulfed in the warm embrace of the Weasley matriarch, Hermione had been mostly occupied conversing with his father, Bill and Percy, all of them extremely interested and impressed with the fact that she would work with MACUSA for the next three months. He himself had been unusually quiet compared to his normal extrovert self, and only occasionally chimed in the conversations around him. Instead he had focused on observing everyone (admittedly mostly Hermione), a habit he found he had acquired as of late, and he'd tried not to think about how different everything would be for the next few months. He'd found it quite interesting that his mother had acted the same way she did when Bill had announced that he would go work as a Curse Breaker in Egypt, or when Charlie told them he would go study Dragons in Romania all those years ago, but in a way it made perfect sense. She'd been Ron's best friend since their first year at Hogwarts, and since the summer of 1994, the summer before her fourth year (his sixth), she'd spent most of her time with the Weasley family at the Burrow or at Grimmauld Place when she wasn't at school. Even though the not-so-discreet dreams his mother had voiced several times in the past, that Hermione would someday be an official part of the family, had been crushed early on when the brief relationship between her and Ron had ended, she was just as much a member of the family as the rest of them. A daughter and a sister.

Sitting in front of the fireplace in the living room, he'd been happy to see that the spark that had been missing for some time now, was present more often than not when she spoke of her upcoming adventure. She was excited to go and experience something new and after having a couple of days to let that information sink in, he was now truly happy for her and hoped she would have a great time doing what she loved, even though he wished she would stay a bit closer to home instead of going all across the world to America.

No, it would be great.

She would only be gone for three months for Merlin's sake!

Her bag had already been sent to MACUSA for a check up first thing in the morning since it was illegal to travel with the quantity of things she was taking with her, which honestly consisted mostly of books and other things she thought would be useful, and only a small amount of clothes, so when she left she only carried with her a small but sturdy business bag, filled with the necessary signed paperwork.

Their goodbyes had been short, but intense, and even a bit emotional - especially on Harry and Hermione's part.

"Harry, you must promise to write me every now and then, and please don't forget to pick up my birthday gift for Ron. actually, I will send you a reminder when the time comes. Give my love to Ginny and the boys and take care of yourself, will you? I'll miss you Harry."

Harry, who'd been too choked up to give her a proper answer, just hugger her tighter and Fred had noticed the affectionate smile that appeared on her face, and how her eyes glossed over for a moment, then, after a few minutes of awkward silence as the two of them held each other, they finally let go and she'd turned to him.

He had been frozen in place for a second, as he realised that this was it and that she was about to leave, but when she'd gently put a hand on his rigid frame he relaxed into her touch and smiled down at her.

"Don't worry Fred, I'll be back soon. I'll miss your genius pranks and I'll miss spending every Thursday afternoon with you. I'll miss you Fred. I'll write often, and I hope you'll do the same, deal?"

She knew that he wasn't the best when it came to writing or even reading letters. Business letters, sure, but why anyone would want to take time to sit down and write or read about one's day was really beyond him. His personal letters were usually sloppy, and contained a poor overview as he was often distracted by something else while he was writing. Mione on the other hand always tried to be as thorough as possible when it came to… well everything really. Her letters were detailed and interesting, and her handwriting was neat and sublime even though she was writing in a hurry, but no one really expected anything less from the woman who'd spend hours everyday writing down notes - she'd perfected the art of the written words years ago -, and she was at times better to express herself on paper than orally. Her small smirk told him that she didn't really expect much, but for once he was willing to try.

"Oh, I can't _wait_ to read your foot-long descriptions of your progress making the world a better place for every House Elf," he'd teased her, but then continued on in a somewhat more serious note and his gaze softened "I will, I promise. Everything's going to be so strange without you, but I'm sure you're going to have a fantastic time. Imagine all the new information you'll be able to _devour_ while you're there, and who knows? Maybe you'll even meet "Mr. Right"!"

She'd rolled her eyes and gave a small laugh before she circled her arms around his torso in a tight hug. Just like with Harry, they'd been standing there for a couple of minutes, and when she'd eventually loosened her hold on him, she'd looked up into his eyes, and when she'd done that there was something there that he hadn't quite been able to place, but it seemed almost like she was pleading to him.

"You won't forget me now, will you?" She'd asked, her voice a bit strained and he guessed she was trying not to cry.

"I would never be able to forget you Mione, don't tell Ginny, but you're my favourite little sister!" He smiled and patted her on her head with a crooked grin, and a flash of something else - was it hurt? - flickered in her deep brown eyes, but it passed so quickly that he was sure he'd imagined it. What could he possibly have said anyways that would've had her react that way?

He'd shrugged it off when she'd taken a step back from him a moment later, a look of nervous determination on her face, when Mr. Gudgeon had suddenly cleared his throat and announced that it was time.

Fred had watched as she shook her boss's hand as he wished her good luck, and she'd looked back at Harry and himself briefly before she'd clutched her bag closer and turned to the enchanted International Portkey, this one a luxurious, maroon coloured handkerchief, that had started to glow.

And then - she was gone.

He had absolutely no idea why he was feeling this moody, it wasn't as if her absence was that noticeable yet, and just like he'd done for the past couple of days, the mantra " _It's only for three months_ " repeated itself in his mind.

"Oh, you're just pathetic sitting here. It's only Mione for Merlin's sake! You can bloody well survive the next months without her to whine to all the time!" He finally exclaimed to himself where he sat in his flat, his idea notebook in front of him as he had optimistically hoped he'd be able to get some work done to get his mind off her, but it was all for nothing. For once, he had no ideas or any inspiration whatsoever, and it was really frustrating to feel this way. He couldn't believe that his muse decided to disappear at the same time his best friend did, it was a bit ironic really. He sighed heavily and put tossed the notebook to the other side of the room, it was no use and it was time to get ready anyways.

* * *

Once or twice every week, he met up with some friends to play quidditch for fun, and tonight he especially looked forward to the distraction. It was almost as much of a routine to meet up with his fellows, as it was to see Mione every Thursday, and it was nice to have some guy time now and then.

Besides himself, there was (of course) George and Lee Jordan, and four years ago they'd been joined by their old Gryffindor quidditch Captain Oliver Wood.

Oliver, who was the same age as Percy, had become the reserve Keeper for the 'Puddlemere United' after his years at Hogwarts, and one year after Voldemort's downfall, he'd finally been able to drop the "reserve" from his title. It would most definitely have happened earlier had Voldy's return not messed up the Quidditch League, but now his lifelong dream and ambition had finally been realized! He had also been one of those who returned to fight at the battle of Hogwarts. There'd been a period of time a few years ago when the 'Puddlemere's' had not been at the top of their game, but their luck turned around and two years ago they had finally won the 'British and Irish Quidditch League Cup', a feat Oliver was extremely proud of.

Around the same time Oliver had reintroduced someone else into their lives - Adrian Pucey, who'd been in the same year as the twins at Hogwarts, only he was sorted into Slytherin. It was a bit ironic really, because during their school years, back when any kind of friendship between the two houses was a disgrace in his eyes, Fred had a small rivalry relationship with Pucey. First of, since they'd both been on different quidditch teams, the hopes of crushing each other on the field and win the Quidditch cup had been mutual, secondly, more than one of Adrians girlfriends or dates had left him for Fred.

Oh well…

Looking back, He had to admit though that Pucey had been one of the few Slytherins who'd played fair and didn't cheat, and he was actually a quite decent human being.

Three years ago, Adrian had surprised everyone when he quit his job at the 'Department of Magical Transportation' at the Ministry and became a reserve Chaser for the 'Puddlemere United', and not even one year later, the team manager, Mr. Philbert Deverill, put him on the team.

And he was good. Much better than he ever was at Hogwarts.

Their past rivalry forgotten, well, almost forgotten, the five of them soon became close friends and started to hang out together, even outside of the practice field, and they had a really great time together. Another thing was that it was also great for business, as the 'Weasley Wizard Wheezes' were able to sponsor the team, and in turn the twins got some of the best seats during their games. Both professional players had also been more than happy to spread the word and pose for some of their products. A win - win situation. But of course they didn't hang out just for the benefits of boosting business and selling tickets, it did also help that they were allowed to play on the smaller practice field.

At 7.30PM, the five of them met up, got changed and headed out to the field, and as it seldom was empty, a few others were flying around as well, but that didn't commonly hinder their game, in fact it was only the better when someone wanted to join in since they weren't enough players to form even one team that normally consisted of seven players (one Keeper, three Chasers, two Beaters, and one Seeker). Instead they usually played in teams of 3-2, and in those cases, they played with only one Seeker and one Chaser (and one Keeper for the team with three players), of course, this was not an ideal plan, but they had fun with it. Ginny used to join them for a number of times before she got pregnant again, she was after all a professional quidditch player as well, playing for the all-female team 'Holyhead Harpies', a rival of the 'Puddlemere United', but that didn't stop them from playing together (even though it usually became a bit more serious), and she was used to being one of the guys. Angelina and Katie sometimes joined them as well whenever mum or one of his siblings volunteered to take care of the kids, but nowadays they mostly valued their precious alone time away from the kids and the husbands and instead had their own gatherings with their female friends.

"Oi, I don't know if I'll be able to fly today, mates. I fell off my broom during practice earlier and even though I got something for the pain, my back is still killing me." Oliver said with his delightfully thick Scottish accent as he walked stiffly and stretched out his back and a few funny creaks could be heard as he bent in different directions.

"Oh, come on Wood!" George groaned a few steps behind him, his broom casually flung around his shoulder, his silky hair a hideous shade of lime green after a day working at the shop. "It's nearly impossible to play a good game with only five players, let alone _four_!"

Oliver shot him a quick glare, while he continued on stretching.

"Be glad that I'm here Weasley, I can be the referee this time. I'll be able to do that from the ground if I have to."

"Oh, well" George sighed "you know that even if you were able to play I would still be able to ' _skelp yer wee behind_ '" he said with a teasing grin, and with that he shot up in the air to escape the smack in the head that was otherwise to be expected, but Wood was quick with his wand and aimed a small jinx at his back, and was satisfied with the small yelp that could be heard from the lime blur.

Fred, Adrian and Oliver chuckled as they waited for Lee who was the last one out from the changing room, and when he caught up with them he was almost out of breath where he stood.

"Alright there, Lee?" Adrian asked smirking while he too mounted his broom.

"Yes, just-" he gasped for air and got too much too quickly and as a result he started to cough "-let me-" cough "-catch-" another cough "-my breath. Thanks." He added the last part as Oliver handed him a water bottle he'd summoned with a quick _accio_ , but they were all still chuckling at his tragic appearance.

"Shut up. I've just not been as active during the last couple of months as I used too. Also, Katie complained that we haven't spent as much time with each other as of late, and while I would happily just take a romantic walk, somehow I ended up joining her with taking classes at the 'Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts', and after that I really don't feel like doing anything ever again."

He shuddered and if they hadn't been laughing before, they were certainly doing so now - even George floated a few feet above ground trying his best to stay hovering, and Oliver had momentarily forgotten his sore back as he broke down at his friends misery. He himself was only supported by his broom as the image of Lee and Katie on a stage performing a dialogue from 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart' projected itself in his mind, both of them wearing silly costumes and being overly dramatic. He only had his mother's voice in his head as she was the one who'd told him the story when he grew up, but he knew that a version (probably the original) was being translated in Hermione's new book.

" _The 'Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts'_? Are you _serious_? Why is this the first time we hear about this, Lee? Tell me something, what did Katie do with your balls when she cut them off?" They all snickered, but Adrian seemed to be the only one who truly appreciated his joke.

"Oh, come on Fred. Marriage isn't that bad." Oliver had finally calmed down enough and said it with most sincerity. He was happily married to another quidditch player - Heidi Macavoy, who'd attended Hogwarts at the same time Fred and George did, only she was in Hufflepuff. Back at school she'd played for the Hufflepuff team, and she was now a reserve Chaser for 'Puddlemere United'.

Adrian decided to chime in. "I agree. Without marriage there would be no _divorce_ and without _divorce_ I wouldn't have my flat in Spain."

"Good one!" George chuckled as he flew to a stop next to Adrians flying broom.

Adrian grinned widely and showed off his glorious smile that had been mentioned several times over in many quidditch articles. He was by far the best looking male player on his team with his blonde curls and sparkly green eyes, and even though Oliver wasn't bad looking at all, his burly form paled in comparison whenever he was standing next to his teammate. It was no surprise that someone like him had been married and divorced, but unlike Ron, who seemed desperate for a family of his own, Adrian was more interested in his career and the single life - something that Fred definitely could relate to.

"I'm serious!" Oliver retorted, and Lee, who was glad that the conversation hadn't stayed on the topic of his private parts, happily joined in the conversation.

"I agree with Oliver. I might complain sometimes, and I really do hate that she's forcing me to do crazy things like that, but seriously - I love Katie."

"Mate, marriage is the best! You're missing out on the best parts of life, the most _important_ parts of life." George added without a hint of sarcasm, adoration shining in his eyes as he probably thought about his own family back home. It was a bit strange for Fred still, even after all this years, to see such a foreign expression in the features that were mirroring his own, at least when it came to something other than their shop, and it amazed him how the two of them could be alike in so many ways and still not truly be able to fully understand what his twin brother felt in moments like these.

"This is coming from the guy who's wife won't let him own porn so he has to wank of to the underwear section in the 'Wicked Wearability'-catalogues-" a loud smack echoed in the lit up field as George smacked Adrian on the back of his head, and continued to kick at his broom.

" _I thought we agreed never to talk about that!_ "

Fred snickered at the memory of when Angelina had found a stack of porn in one of George's boxes, but to his defense - they had been very old and hardly ever used since they got together, but since then Angelina had declared that if George felt so unsatisfied by their sex life that he needed to take matter into his own hands, he would very well continue to do so for the rest of his life if she found more of the adult content. George did however have a special weak spot for some of the underwear models for 'Wicked Wearability', not that he would ever tell that to Angelina.

Adrian flew around, still with the irritated Weasley-twin flying after him shouting "What's the matter with you, Pucey? You're single and you've practically been single ever since - what was her name?"

"Erm… Stimpson, P- Pricilla? Patricia? That's it! Patricia Stimpson, Ravenclaw!" Lee was the one who answered gleefully, shouting across the field.

"That's right! Ever since Patricia Stimpson dumped your sorry arse in for _Fred_!"

The two who still was the only one flying in the air finally came back where the rest of them were gathered, and Adrian tried his best to look mournful, but failed miserably, as George continued to pester him about his past girlfriend and Fred grinned triumphantly and raised his eyebrows as a challenge at the former Slytherin as if it had happened just a few weeks ago and not over a decade ago.

"Yes, I remember that in our seventh year! You should have seen it Ollie, Pucey here was a mess." Lee teased and nudged Oliver who grinned at his comrades. Of course, Adrian had not really been a mess, because he just didn't care that much about weather or not girls were interested in him, and everyone knew it.

"You've never been the same, You've not been able to _sleep_!" George ranted on although they all knew that he was over the comment long ago, he just enjoyed to bicker with him.

" _Scarred!_ " Fred added, to put some fuel to the funny flame.

"Aye, Scarred." Oliver nodded with what looked to be a serious expression, but the glint in his eyes told them otherwise. He had not said much for the past few minutes, although he'd been the one to somewhat start the discussion, instead he watched the show in amusement.

"You have no idea how nice it is to have someone who's going to be there no matter what. Whatever." The air seemed to finally have escaped George as he halted in his exclamation, with an exhausted grin on his smug face.

Adrian just lifted an eyebrow as if to ask if he was done before he lazily answered "And _you_ ," pointing at the three men with wedding bands on their fingers, "don't know how nice it is to sleep with a different girl every night" he finished and winked at Fred, who voiced his agreement with a simple "That's true."

Not to say that he didn't have any family values. No, he loved his parents and brothers and sisters, but why would anyone want to bind themselves to only one other person for the rest of their lives?

"Well, at least you've got the best of both worlds, Fred" Adrian then said thoughtfully, and though he'd never thought of it like that before, Fred agreed with a smile. The others huffed and he decided to defend himself.

"No, it's true! I can sleep with whoever I want, but I still get to hang out with Mione afterwards. It's the perfect setup!"

"For _you_ perhaps, but maybe not for Hermione."

Those words confused him and he turned with a frown on his face to Oliver who'd been the one to speak.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on Fred, she's a _woman_!"

"Yes, I'm aware of that fact."

"Are you sure?" Lee asked, joining in.

Still frowning he wondered where they were going with this, his life was perfect! And he knew that Mione liked spending time with him, she would definitely have said something years ago otherwise.

Oliver rolled his eyes and chuckled disbelievingly at his obvious confusion.

"Fred, she's pushing _30_. Do you really think that her idea of 'Happily Ever After' is coming home to you and hang out after you've had a shag?"

That though had never occurred to him before and and the rest of them started to laugh again at the stunned look he had on his face. Lee patted his back and said "Makes you think, right?" with a cheeky grin.

Before he had the chance to think more about the bewildering conversation, Adrian decided to dampen the mood by bringing up the one thing that he'd tried - and succeeded - not to think about since they got here.

"Well, at least now you have a few months to get used to not having her around all the time. It'll do you good!"

He scowled, but was not the one to answer. Instead George let out a loud groan and once again took a swing with his legs towards the annoying serpant.

"Thank you so much, Pucey, you irritating _prick_! He just said his goodbye earlier this afternoon and he's been brooding in his flat since! I thought I told you to _distract_ him from that fact tonight?"

He had no idea he had been so obvious in his sulky mood, but even though they had their tiny differences, George did know him like the back of his hand, so he shot his twin a grateful smile. Adrian's features twisted in a disgusted grimace.

" _Ew_ , I will _not_ be the one to distract him tonight. I'm sure he has someone who's more than willing to floo over and take care of that later on. Right now, I really want to get on with playing some quidditch!"

Once again the atmosphere around them changed, and the joking demeanor that usually surrounded them was back.

"Aye! ' _Heid doon arse up_ ', It's time for some quidditch!" George exclaimed, faking a Scottish accent, and they all laughed heartily as Oliver snorted at the horrible attempt.

Fred mounted his broom, and shot up in the air, the feeling of freedom immediately calming him, and he set off after Adrian making kissing faces in his direction after his previous comment.

Perhaps it was a good idea to floo Amy Frome later. He would most likely need something else to keep him occupied after the game, and Frome was a hell of a good distraction.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm sorry i's been almost a month since my last update! I'll try to be more frequent in the weeks to come, with the summer being over and everything but I won't promise anything.

I hope you like this chapter and continue to review, follow and favourite this story, it keeps me motivated ;)

I was debating with myself weather or not to write Oliver Wood's Scottish accent but I decided against it because I really don't want to offend anyone. If anyone think my use of phrases is offensive, please do tell me and I will of course edit and change it to the best of my abilities.

Like always, if anyone have any remarks on my grammar or something like that, you're more than welcome to write to me and tell me and I'll make sure to correct any mistakes! And I always appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE critique.

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	9. Chapter 8

February 17th

When the Ministry owl first had arrived, Fred had waved it off thinking it was yet another complaint filed from the neighbouring shop- and/or flat owners, who apparently didn't appreciate the loud bangs and noises that sometimes filled the somewhat quiet evenings in Diagon Alley when creativity and inspiration was at its peak for the two Weasley twins, and that was nothing he'd wanted to deal with at the moment. Usually he'd leave Ron deal with those kind of things, just because he could, but since the wanker still was off who knows where for his honeymoon, he had little to no choice but to instead direct the owl towards the office where his uglier half conveniently enough spent the day writing orders for new ingredients. Not to say that Fred was a git and always delegated all the boring work to everyone else, not at all. He was after all a man with a nose for business and knew that for him to be able to live his dream and keep the shop successful, every single aspect is important and that includes all the paperwork that comes with it. But that doesn't mean that he enjoyed it.

On this slow Wednesday morning however, he'd been lucky enough to have won against George in a quick game of Gobstones, so the holey ginger was stuck on boring paperwork duty most of the day whilst he himself strolled around the shop ready to assist the customers, but since it was still early in the morning, he spent his time restocking the shelves and setting up some new pranks to showcase.

It was therefore natural that he had completely forgotten all about it until he suddenly was hit on the head with the envelope and heard his brother's voice echoing from the other room "That's yours you git", so with a heavy sigh he jumped up on the counter, carelessly opened the letter and started to read.

* * *

 _Dear Mr. Weasley,_

 _We have reviewed the request sent to us on February 9th by; Miss. Hermione J. Granger, to connect the international Floo Network between the following two fireplaces;_

 ** _93 Diagon Alley, London, England - Second floor, Living room_**

 _And_

 ** _16 Jackson Court, Manhattan, NY, United States of America - Ninth Floor, Third Apartment, Living room_**

 _We are pleased to inform you that the request have been accepted._

 _Please fill out and sign the enclosed document that you have read and understood the **'Terms and Conditions'** and note that a copy will be sent to; the Magical Congress of the United States of America._

 _The Floo connection will be open from the moment you have signed the document, and will be sustained until **May 31st, 2008**._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Lucinda Talkalot_

 _Floo Network Authority Office_

 ** _Ministry of Magic_**

* * *

After reading it's content a few times in a slight state of confusion, his brain finally caught up with him and he threw himself down, tore out the enclosed document and skimmed through the 'Terms and Conditions' impatiently, while reaching out towards one of the many quills resting on the counter.

 _"... Please note that this Floo Connection is not to be used for transportation. If **any means** of transportation occurs between the connected fireworks, the Department of International Cooperation will be involved, followed by a hearing and possible imprisonment...This document grants permission to use the Floo Network for Floo Calls only. Beware of the fact that this is not to be abused… By signing this document I give permission to; the Magical Congress of the United States of America to oversee and listen in to any calls they please… The Magical Congress of the United States of America, as well as the Department of International Cooperation will be able to withdraw this permission should they suspect any misuse…"_

The list went on and on and he scowled at the many rules but reluctantly restrained the urge to break every single one of them out of sheer defiance before he scribbled down his signature on the dotted line. After all, he didn't _really_ want to end up in Azkaban, and he would much prefer to communicate with his favourite witch through floo calls than letters that took ages to write, send and arrive.

He hadn't thought it was an alternative to set up a floo connection internationally, but now when he thought about it it did make sense, and it didn't surprise him in the least that Hermione had known about it. He wondered if she'd used her connections at the Ministry and her reputation as a war hero for the Floo Network Authority Office and the Department of International Cooperation to accept the request, as he was sure they'd been reluctant to allow him - Mr. Fred Gideon Weasley, prankster extraordinaire - access to anything that could stir up a quite nasty quarrel between the two governments if even the slightest rule was to be broken. He'd have to ask her about it.

It suddenly dawned on him that he now was able to talk to her whenever he wanted, and since he'd not heard anything from her since her departure seven days ago, he could not wait and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity for him to check in on her.

He skipped toward the office and called out "Hey George, could you please mind the shop for a while?"

"As you very well know I'm busy with paperwork." George grunted just as Fred entered the room, a small snicker escaping him as he was greeted by the appearance of his twin sitting in the comfy chair, his feet resting on the rustic bright orange desk as he was apparently distracted with his idea notebook, the pile of important paperwork in front of him obviously forgotten.

"Yes I can see you're working very hard. How's those orders coming along?"

"I just had an idea and needed to get it down on parchment as soon as possible, you're going to love it! I figure we create this gadget-"

"Sound's lovely Forge, and I'm extremely excited to hear more about it later on but can you _pleaseee_ mind the shop for now?" He sent his brother a supplicating look and George finally looked up at him with raised eyebrows and a suspicious look on his face.

"Mate, not to say that I wouldn't be ecstatic to walk around out in the shop instead of doing tedious paperwork for the day, but if you're off for a shag or something you know that we've talked about the fact that I will no longer do your work for you… It's only eight o'clock for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh, come off it, you handsome bloke! It doesn't happen that often. Besides, that's not the reason at all _this_ time."

"Why then?"

"I'll just call Mione for a bit."

The suspicious look was replaced with confusion as his twin wondered what in Merlin's name he was on about.

"Call Mione? On one of those muggle mobile felltones that dad obsess about?"

"I don't think that's what they're called.. Anyways, nah, there's a better way." Fred answered and tossed the Ministry letter to his twin who caught it one handed and read it's content.

"See? I'll be off then! Shan't be long!"

He turned his back and headed toward the tiny hallway which contained only the narrow staircase leading to his flat, but before he was out of earshot he heard George half grumble, half gleefully call after him "You know you're on paperwork duty for the rest of the week for this, right?"

The thought that he was on his way to finally talk to Hermione again won over the small part of him that sulked over the unfavourable trade of working duties that had just transpired, so he laughed loudly as he quickly entered his flat.

* * *

When George and he first had opened up Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in 1996, the flat they'd purchased with it was tiny with only a kitchen, one bathroom, and one tiny room that doubled as a bedroom and living room, and it had stayed that way until after the war when they decided to make it into a more permanent living space, adding two more rooms. This was a much appreciated change since neither brothers had enjoyed to invite any lady-friends over back when they shared one room, although to their credit it should be noted that neither of them had been particularly focused on anything but the shop, but when the Second Wizarding War was won, other _interests_ had quickly flared up again. George started dating Angelina, and Fred, who was still recovering from that wall crashing down on him, slowly but surely returned to his old charming ways, his rules stronger than ever.

Now of course things were a bit different since George had moved out, and Fred had been left with probably far too much space he would ever need, nonetheless he'd made it work and he truly considered his den a perfect little haven.

The flat itself had two entries, one door leading from one hallway (the one in his flat) out to a dull looking one, shared with other residents in the building and a rather questionable stairwell leading down to a dark and heavy door that opened up to Diagon Alley. This entrance was hardly ever used, at least not by anyone who knew him well. The second one he'd just used and it was the one accessible through the shop. When entering his Bachelor's Den this way, the first room you stepped into was the living room that was decorated in a surprisingly neat and pleasant way, well mostly neat and pleasant way - he had a knack of being somewhat disorganized -, and it was pretty obvious that the cohesive furnishing was mostly because of Mione. The walls were all covered with patterned wallpaper the same bright colour as the sky outside on a sunny day, and a dozen framed pictures were up of his family and friends, as well as a few articles that either mentioned the success of the shop, or George and himself in a positive (or at least what he considered positive...) way. On one of the walls was his old Cleansweep Five hanging as it was now retired and replaced with a much newer and better model, but the irrational emotional bond he had tied to it - like the memories of leaving Hogwarts after wreaking havoc right under Umbridge's nose - made him feel like it deserved to be on display. George had his hanging in the living room in his house as well.

In the middle of the room was one enormous yellow sofa, a large wooden coffee table cockily shaped like a W right in front of it, and unlike Hermione he didn't have any muggle devices such as a TV to take up space. He did however have one bookshelf sparsely filled with a few books and lots of board games, both wizarding and muggle, that he'd collected over the years.

The fireplace was grand and was somewhat mismatched with everything else in the room as it clearly was the oldest and most luxurious piece of furniture in the otherwise… not modern per say, but at least much more playful looking room. He had compensated that by painting all of the ornaments on it in different colours and Hermione had also taken a liking into placing small pieces of similar extravagant looking decorations from their favourite junk shop all over the room. It was rather funny every time she'd visited and he'd randomly notice a new small baroque statue or a new bookstand that clearly wasn't there before.

Right next to the living room was his bedroom, which, compared to the multicoloured living room, was a bit more muted in vibrancy as one would expect with him being who he was, but that was mostly because of one very simple reason - he didn't really want any of his lovely ladies to be… distracted by anything other than himself whenever someone was over, which to be fair was more often than not. It actually looked surprisingly tasteful.

The walls in here were an eggshell white, the floors gunstock oak (an orangey/red kind of wood), and all of the bigger furnitures, like the sleigh bed, the wardrobe and the two nightstands, were all of the same wooden material as the floor. Still there was enough vibrant details that still showed off that it was a bedroom worthy of a Weasley twin, like the knobs on the wardrobe for example, which were in a variety of green and blue or the bedcovers which were striped in different shades of blue, purple and red with two pillows to match (not a hundred ones like some people had).

What surprised people the most was the fact that while Hermione had taken it upon herself trying to make his flat presentable, she'd for some reason refused to touch his bedroom. Instead, he'd had to try and imagine what might look appealing to the other gender by _himself_. But to be completely honest Mione had been the one to mention that the gunstock oak was lovely, so he'd simply decided to order a full set of furniture of said material.

He liked his bedroom very much indeed.

The kitchen was next, squeezed in between his bedroom and the second bedroom that now served as extra storage room for the shop, as well as a guest bedroom should ever George, Hermione, occasionally Ron or in extremely rare cases some of his nephews and nieces spend the night. Anyway, he barely spent any time in the kitchen as he was a terrible cook so he didn't really care too much about decorating it, he only knew that the vast majority of furniture in there were Miones - even the always empty fridge! He prefered to eat whatever his mother had sent over, or his take away orders in the living room anyhow, when he wasn't out.

The bathroom was right next to the main entrance, opposite to the guest bedroom/storage room and it was the most amazing bathroom anyone could ever own, at least according to himself. The tiles that surrounded every bit of the walls were a bright orange, and the tub, toilet, and sink as well as all of the towels and other accessories were all a lively blue. Absolutely fantastic, although he didn't really agree to that every time he was a bit hungover. It was the bathroom that had most people question his sanity and many complained that they got a headache from being in there. Another strategic plan of his to keep guests from overstaying their welcome.

In all he really loved his flat, as it very much represented everything he was - fun and unpredictable.

* * *

As soon as he'd stepped into the livingroom, he grabbed a handful of floo powder, kneeled down by the fireplace and swiftly shouted "Hermione Granger - 16 Jackson Court, Manhattan, New York", before he stuck his head in the green flames.

"Mionee! _Mione_ , are you there?"

Too excited about the prospect of talking to her, he was completely oblivious to the darkness and silence that surrounded the flat halfway around the earth, so he continued to yell for her, hoping she was home and not at work.

After a couple of minutes the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps, shuffling slowly toward him and a groan followed by her sweet and, to his surprise, somewhat distorted voice as she entered the room and saw his face in the flames.

"...F-Fred?"

"Mione! Took you long enough!" He said with a wink.

" _What_ \- why are you-... _Hi_." She sighed deeply but he ignored this.

"Mione, love, how are you? I can't believe it's been a week since you left, it feel like so much longer than that! How's work? I'm sure you just love it there. How's the weather in New York? Sunny I bet, though you don't look a bit tanned. Working too much already?"

She kneeled down on the rug by the fireplace, her hair a mess and an exhausted look on her face.

"It's the same as England you know…"

"Really? Look at that, I learn something new every day. Speaking of learning new things, bloody brilliant idea to connect the fireplaces! I had no idea that was possible. We can talk all the time now! What are you up to at the moment?"

Beaming at her he saw how she stifled a yawn and peered around the dark room, before she groaned again and turned back to him with a tired glare.

"Well, seeing as It's three in the morning, I _was_ sleeping..."

"Oh, Right. My apologies."

That did certainly explain why she looked so tired and why it was so dark. For the first time he took notice of what she was wearing and recognized one of his old quidditch jerseys that she'd borrowed from him a couple of years ago and had used as one of her jammies ever since. He'd not given it any though that by her going to America it meant that she was now in another timezone, England being five hours ahead if he wasn't mistaken, and he cursed himself for his stupidity.

"Well, that explains why it's so dark, doesn't it?"

"Yes… Was there something important?"

Completely ignoring to her drowsiness he answered happily "Yes, you'll never guess what happened!"

"What?"

"I found a second Sir Cadogan."

"A second… what?"

"Yes! You know the portrait of the irritating knight at... was it the seventh floor at Hogwarts? Anyway, I found a small sculpture of him at the Junk Shop! It's the funniest thing! He keeps galloping around on his fat pony poking me in the back with his puny sword! Apparently he's part of a pair, the other one being the Wyvern of Wye, supposedly it's hilarious to see them going at each other and I've made it my mission to find the other one…"

Another yawn escaped Mione as he rambled on, her eyes half shut and her head resting in her hand as she almost nodded off.

"Terrific… Hey Fred?"

"Hm?"

"I'm going to go back to sleep now."

"Oh, okay. Sure" he answered as disappointment filled him "We'll talk soon again though, right?"

"Of course." A small smile graced her lips tiredly as she got up, swayed a little on the spot, then waved her goodbye as she slowly stalked back to what he guessed was her bedroom.

"Nighty then."

"Good night Fred."

He was halfway out of the flames when he thought he heard her say "Love you." and he smiled, amused. To say that to each other was beyond even their level of affection, they were best friends, nothing else.

She was obviously really tired.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello everyone!

As one kind soul PM'd me earlier today to correct my mistake that England is ahead of America, not the other way around, I have now edited it accordingly. I did write it correctly the first time, but my tired brain confused me when I did the finishing touches last night. Thankfully I did have a saved copy of the correct version. Stupid of me really, as I'm from Europe myself and just moved to America less than a year ago... Anyway...

I know I'm a bit slow when i comes to updating, but have no worries, I don't have any plans of abandoning this story - I like the plot too much for that ;)

I just wanted to say that I know there's a few of you who want's me to start with the _actual_ plot line, and the fun stuff (I hope), but I think it's extremely important for this build up for you to see the existing relationship going on and how the characters develop from that, therefore you might think that I'm milking it a bit, but it'll only stay like that for maybe one or two chapters more.

I hope you still enjoy, and leave some love if you do!

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	10. Chapter 9

February 21st, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to finally write to you, but my work here in New York and M.A.C.U.S.A so far have been intense to say the least. It's incredibly exciting to be here though._

 _New York is lovely however a bit crowded, and the locals tend to be a bit more loud and rude than what I'm used to._

 _The city itself is beautiful and I never knew it could be so fascinating to stroll down the streets surrounded by skyscrapers, but the buildings here are both historical and very modern, and you can really tell that this is truly a city that never sleep. Something new is happening anywhere you look._

 _The small flat that I've been given during my stay here is located at the Upper West Side and it's in one of the few magical neighbourhoods that exist here on Manhattan, concealed from the muggle - or No Maj as they call them here in the States,- world, similarly to Diagon Alley back home. It's perfectly located close to Central Park, where I spent most of my first days just walking around, exploring and trying to get to know the place. The park itself reminds me a lot of Hyde Park, which brought back memories of that time when I told you the story about the 'Boy Who Never Grew Up', resulting in us walking around a cold February day seven or six years ago in our quest to find the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, and our evening walks around the park ever since. After spending some time here though, I must confess that I might actually prefer this one. It's much cozier. Anyway, I spent a lot of my time there, as well as walking around the city trying to find a small café or tea shop where I can buy myself a tolerable enough cup of tea, but so far I've not succeeded._

 _The magical neighbourhood where I live is quite small, but does consist of quite a number of shops, such as 'Canelos' Capes and Clothing', 'Mac, Marv and Melvin's Magical Must's', 'Ainsley's Sports and Games' and the most adorable little bookshop called 'Bibliobibuli and Epeolatry' where I know I'll spend most of my free time (Bibliobibuli refers to a person who reads too much, if there really is such a thing, and Epeolatry means 'the Worship of Words'), otherwise there's just a few streets, which in this area are named after previous Presidents of M.A.C.U.S.A (mine's after Josiah Jackson), containing only 'apartment buildings'._

 _I've found that many who work at the M.A.C.U.S.A headquarters live in this area as well, because unlike how it is at the Ministry of Magic, the employers can't just floo in to work directly from their homes, instead they have a few heavily guarded underground networks that, surprisingly enough, functions somewhat similarly to a muggle subway station, just instead of swiping a card to be able to enter, you must drop your wand, as well as a strand of your own hair, in a thin, round and transparent beaker with an endless bottom that somehow transports them to M.A.C.U.S.A where they check to see if it matches with your wand permit, then, if your identification is accepted, you proceed to walk through a fog-like substance and to your assigned fireplace, if not, the fog will thicken around you until security can escort you away to a safety room where a thorough inspection and questioning awaits. That's only happened once since I got here, but it turned out that the man had just mistakenly grabbed cat hair instead of his own, which, of course, brought back some unpleasant memories, but at least he didn't use it for Polyjuice Potion and ended up being one for weeks…_

 _Anyway._

 _As I've been quickly thrown in to the working environment and conditions here at M.A.C.U.S.A, I can tell that it's very different from what I'm used to back at the Ministry and the 'Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures', and I must say it's highly intriguing._

 _'The Body for Protection of Magical Species', or B.P.M.S for short, is (as I've previously mentioned) where I'm spending the next couple of months, and the department itself is divided in two categories - not three like we have it back home (Beast, Being and Spirit)._

 _The first subsection is 'Cognizant and Opinionated Beings', or C.O.B, which include the House Elf Unit where I'm primarily located and work, the Werewolf Unit, the Goblin Unit, the Giant Unit, Ghost Unit, as well as many other beings who, as is apparent of the name, can communicate their thoughts and feelings in the wizarding community. Then there is the second subsection 'Puzzling and Insoluble Beings', or P.I.B, which deals and controls with the magical beasts here in America, such as the Thunderbirds, Jackalopes, Snallygasters (who has a special league to protect it by obliviating the muggles who happen to see it), Hidebehinds, as well as Doxys, Knarls amidst all the other non-communicating creatures and beasts._ _I don't work much with those in the P.I.B subsection, but I do know that to be able to work there you need to have significant magizoology experience and insight, and it also happens to be so that the only other previous work collaboration (in other words, the only non war-, or security related collaboration) between the Ministry of Magic and M.A.C.U.S.A was when Newt Scamander (the author of the book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) helped rejuvenate and educate this establishment._

 _To be honest I was quite surprised during my first official day when Mr. Fermin Dunn, who is the Director of 'the Body for Protection of Magical Species', introduced me to everyone and I came to realise that in total there's only about 15 employees working in the C.O.B subsection. I mean, compared to what it's like back home where only in my S.P.E.W division there's_ six _of us working on House Elf laws alone, I quickly understood that my contribution would implicate so much more than I first anticipated. Everyone here is part of at least two or more Units, which means they have a lot more responsibilities but in several fields (for example, one employee can be in both the House Elf Unit and the Ghost Unit at the same time), which must be_ extremely _confusing, and not to be one to vaunt, but I do believe that my contribution will be tremendously appreciated in the end. But o_ _f course I'm not alone in this project._

 _Like Mr. Dunn wrote in his letter, I'm technically unqualified to actually do anything_ practical _as I'm not an American citizen, but my job is to observe, assist and deliberate with the ones in charge of this project, as well as give them some friendly pointers when necessary, but really that's only a technicality and the two(!) working with the House Elf Unit have been nothing but welcoming and respectful toward me, thankfully._

 _The first one of my colleagues is Betiana Saunders (aka. Betty), a tall and curvy brunette only a few years older than myself with a fierce temper similar to Ginny's, and she's proven to be the most obvious driving force behind the H.E. Unit, as well as a great friend._

 _Secondly we have Desmond Zontini, an older man who gives off quite an intimidating impression at first sight, but after getting to know him I find that he remind me a lot of Kingsley Shacklebolt, both in appearance and approach, although not quite as fit as the Minister, and his eyes have a biting blue hue to them which is a great contrast to his dark skin. He doesn't speak very often, but when he does, it is with great wisdom and I believe him to be one of the most considerate people I've met in a long time._

 _The two of them are my main companions during these months, but then we have a fourth member of our team - Marcellus Holt is an intern (or apprentice as we would call them) here at the 'Body for Protection of Magical Species' who just recently graduated from Ilvermorny (the wizarding school here in North America). He's a short and pleasant young man, with remarkable enthusiasm and a knack for research that is quite impressive even by my standards. Since he's not technically an official part of the H.E. Unit he's not as involved with this whole process as Betty, Desmond and myself, but he's still a valuable asset to the team._

 _I wish I could go into more detail about the progress that is being made, but for the time being I'm not allowed to discuss it further, however don't think that means that I won't tell you all about it when I get back!_

 _Now that I've written about what I consider to be extremely interesting information, I assume that, knowing you, you're probably bored out of your mind reading this, and for that I apologize, but I can assure you that I will continue to write what I can about my experiences here._

 _Now you have to tell me everything new about you!_

 _How are you?_

 _I'm glad you liked my idea to open up the international floo connection, though I must say that we should probably try to coordinate our calls a bit better next time, no offence, but I'm sure that the five hour time difference will be a minor problem in the future._

 _Although I cannot say that time has flown for me, I must say that I miss you and our Thursdays together dearly, and things aren't quite as fun or lively as it would be if you were here with me._

 _Now, I wasn't able to react properly when you called, but now when I'm awake and have had time to think about it, I must acknowledge to what you said accordingly: Why on_ earth _did you buy a sculpture of_ Sir Cadogan _? I don't care how entertaining you find it to be jabbed in the back as he challenge you to duel - have you forgotten how irritating the portrait of him was back at Hogwarts, especially during that period when he replaced the Fat Lady as the guard to the Gryffindor entrance? I wish you good luck in finding the Wyvern of Wye, but it's probably for the best that you don't have both of them, because of the sound of it, I would imagine that your flat, as well as everyone who'd like to visit, would be in serious danger._

 _I miss you._

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

March 4rd, 2008

It was now three weeks since Hermione had left for New York and Fred was so incredibly bored. Three Thursdays without the company of his favourite witch and he was going out of his mind, seriously considering to break all of those stupid rules not to use the floo network for traveling between the two countries, just to be able to see her.

It was so strange, not having anything to do on those days that for the past nine years had become his favourite day of the week - Thursdays -, which had instead quickly became his least favourite one.

Not that he hadn't had things to, in lack of a better word, _do_ , no, he met up with his women and had a pleasant time with them in his flat or _where ever_ just like he always did, but he missed the simple social aspect of having Mione around. With her he could talk about his lovers, discuss ideas for 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes', argue about trivial things, and more, and still have a great time filled with interesting conversations. With her it wasn't anything physical.

If he didn't come up with a solution to this soon, he might just consider to actually put his words into action and jump off a sodding bridge.

Maybe…

A fleeting thought had passed through his busy mind, a thought he'd never in his life had barely even considered before, and he was startled by that realisation for a moment before a gleeful grin spread across his face.

What if… he invited one of his lovely women out during the day! Not as a _date_ , no, his rules were very clear on that he _did not_ date whatsoever, but more like some sort of a _'friends with benefits'_ agreement. He was sure it couldn't be too difficult to socialize with some of them, and he couldn't see why he wouldn't be able to enjoy doing everything he'd normally do with Mione with any other woman. Obviously not on the same level of familiarity, but still, and on the plus side he (hopefully) could look forward to a shag later on.

Not wasting any time, he immediately sent an owl to Megan Jones, and soon they were walking along the street in Diagon Alley.

Megan was a very pretty witch with blond hair reaching the top of her shoulders, a round face with dark-blue, almond shaped eyes, a straight pointy nose and small lips that always held a smile. She'd been sorted into Hufflepuff the same year as Hermione, Ron and Harry, but he'd never taken much notice of her back in school. Well, that was not completely true - most every guy had come to turn their heads in her direction once or twice in as she'd grown up to be the looker she is, but back then he'd been more focused on the older, more _experienced_ girls.

They'd been seeing each other (only in the sexual sense, of course) on and off for the last three years, and though he was surprised that she hadn't married or even been in any relationships during that time, he didn't complain at all.

Being the gentleman he was, he had patiently followed her to 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions' and 'Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions' without a single complaint, but he had hated every single second of it. He was not one to enjoy meaningless shopping, especially not for clothes, but Jones had insisted to try on no less than 16 items. He'd forced himself to give her some sort of compliment in the beginning every time she'd exited the dressing room wearing something new, but once he realised he acted scarily much like a _boyfriend_ with his uncomfortable praise, he abruptly stopped.

He'd finally been able to drag her away from one of the jewelry vendors and into the 'Junk Shop' where he hoped he'd finally get to enjoy himself.

That was probably not going to happen though…

He immediately stepped up to one of the many shelves and feverishly started to grab at the forgotten junk, and inspected them with great interest.

"This stuff is all old…" Jones whined behind him, the disgust evident in her voice, and he rolled his eyes at the obvious statement.

"Yes, that's the point."

"Let's go to 'Twilfitt and Tatting's'!" He felt her pull at his arm but shrugged her off. No way he was going off to yet another clothing shop, especially not _that_ one, which was known to be a more snobbish establishment.

"'Twilfitt and Tatting's'? No. We just got here, let's stay here."

He caught sight of a dirty but beautiful bronze fruit bowl with several runes and symbols on it, and in his mind he could instantly imagine what Hermione would say if she was here and could see it. She'd probably tell him all about what the runes meant, as well as guess it's origin. _"See that symbol over there? It's a cat, which in this case represents the Norse God Freya, who according to the legend had the ability to manipulate one's desire and fortune. She's also the goddess of fertility, and this particular bowl is said to bestow great fortune and fertility to anyone who eat a fruit from it…of course this is complete hogwash..."_ He had of course no clue if that's what the symbols and runes on this bowl actually indicated, and for the time being he was left to guess how the conversation would've play out, but he presumed he wasn't very far off.

The loud groan beside him broke his concentration, and he was just barely able to conceal his irritation when he turned to the witch beside him. Jones was surveying the room with great dislike on her face before she turned to him once again.

"I don't like old stuff." she grumbled.

Why did she talk like a six-year-old? Seriously, it was just as if he was there with one of his nieces and nephews. No actually, on second thought they would probably have a great time looking through everything, not whine about it.

Suddenly he didn't think she looked very pretty anymore.

"Walk around, look and touch everything, instead of just standing there judging everything like a child. You might find something you actually _like_."

A clearly insulted look crossed her face before she glowered at him, muttering "Am not. And I'm not _touching_ anything in here."

He ignored her and kept browsing down the shelves, definitely regretting his decision to invite anyone, especially Megan Jones, out for his day off.

* * *

March 8th, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _Things are busy here at M.A.C.U.S.A, but I think I'm off to a great start._

 _I can't tell you much about the specifics of what I'm doing with the House Elf Unit, however, I am able to tell you that we've been able to actually talk with a few House Elves about their work so that we can easier agree on what's needed to be done. I've always mentioned to you that I would like for an actual House Elf to be part of S.P.E.W back at the 'Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures', and I think I will push for that when I get back to England._

 _Other than that I've also started to get to know more people here at the B.P.M.S ('Body for Protection of Magical Species')._

 _Like I think I mentioned in my previous letter, everyone who works at the C.O.B (Cognizant and Opinionated Beings) subsection, is part of more than one Unit. Betty for example is part of the H.E Unit, but she's also part of the Goblin Unit, and Desmond is part of the H.E Unit and Vampire Unit. Confusing, I know, but this means that I've been able to connect with people from the other units as well, because everyone is involved with a bit of everything. Betty introduced me to Lenobia Quigly, a really short, red haired witch who works at the Goblin- and Ghost Unit, and she has with a sparkling humor and a attitude twice her size. I think you'd get along with her really well as long as you don't comment her size too much._ _Lenobia in turn Introduced me to Ike Scorsone and Eileen Eames from the Werewolf Unit, and I've been having some of the most interesting conversations with the two of them._

 _Ike reminds me a lot of a mix of both Charlie and Bill. Physically he's more like Charlie with his muscular tanned form and broad charming smile, but his hair, which falls in thick curls (though sleek and not frizzy like mine) framing his face, bring out both that rebellious look and personality that Bill has. I've already told him all about them and I must arrange for them to meet up sometime, especially Charlie. I'm sure Ike would love to study dragons in the future._

 _Eileen is the most surprising person I've met so far. She has a thick southern accent, neatly pinned chocolate hair and surely dress the part of a true debutante, not one I would guess would work here at the B.P.M.S, but she has an enormous heart as well as a strong will to do good. Her older brother was a werewolf but he killed himself when he was only fifteen (She was 12) and she's been determined to change the conditions for them ever since. She can be scary at times, but she means well._

 _It feels nice to have friends over here._

 _Of course I got a lot of questions about Harry and the war in the beginning, not that I though for a moment that I wouldn't, but after a while when they realised they'd been a bit too pushy, they tuned it down a bit, which I'm grateful for._

 _I told them all about you and 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes', though! I wasn't able to bring any of your products but they were all really impressed when I thoroughly described each and every one of them, as well as showed them a couple of pictures and articles, and they told me to tell both you and George that you must start negotiations with M.A.C.U.S.A so that you can start up a shop here in America. I agree with them, I do believe that WWW is ready to go international._

 _Betty and Eileen have been pestering me about your good looks too. I can't even leave the content without suddenly being bombarded with questions about you from your admirers, granted I was the one who_ made them _your admirers, but still. I say you have more than one willing female here in New York if you were ever to consider taking your fornicating tendencies overseas. Maybe when you open your new shop New York? That's what I'm going to tell Betty and Eileen._

 _So far I've not had much contact with anyone outside of the B.P.M.S, but next week I'll be joining Mr. Dunn to a small gathering in the Pentagram Office with focus on the 'Office for Magic Relations and Education'. Minister Shacklebolt and Professor McGonagall have asked if I could please say something short about Hogwarts and the Ministry and they also sent me a gift to present to President Peony Moncrieffe (that's been thoroughly checked thrice by the 'Department of Unidentifiable Magical Objects' and the 'Major Investigations Department'). It's a beautiful crest with the symbols of the Ministry of Magic and M.A.C.U.S.A entwined to represent the unity of the two._

 _I'm really nervous, I really don't do very well under pressure, but I know what I'm going to say and that will have to be good enough._

 _I do look forward to meet President Moncrieffe again, I've not seen her since that time she was visiting the Ministry a few years ago, but she was an incredible woman back then, and I'm sure she's only grown more wise since._

 _But enough about that._

 _I cannot believe you actually endured an afternoon going shopping with Megan Jones. I'm flabbergasted. Dumbstruck._ Astonished.

 _First of all, how on earth did you survive? I mean, It's difficult enough for me to drag you along when I want to shop for clothes for myself - actually I've almost given up on that idea completely and consider to just go with Ginny in the future when she gets one of her girly moments, and I've not even mentioned the struggle it is to get you to try some clothes for yourself._

 _I would've called you out and said that you fancied her, had it not been for the fact that you dragged her into the 'Junk Shop', and called her a child, before she soon after that stormed off and your day out abruptly ended._ _Surely you must have realised that not everyone can appreciate what that shop's got to offer, although I do think it's their loss. Must I remind you that you were one of them? It took me close to a year of forcing you to come with me before you finally gave in to the magic of it. And you expect_ Megan Jones _to change her opinion in the matter of_ minutes _._

 _Sometimes I do wonder what to do with you, really._

 _Was it your intention never to see her again? Because I doubt not even your sexual magnetism is enough to make her come back to you after that disaster…_

 _In the future, if you decide your craving for some simple female socializing is worth risking your Thursday, I would recommend you do something a bit easier. Shopping was clearly too much to ask from either of you, but perhaps with the next woman batty enough to agree, you could do something both of you would actually enjoy. Maybe if you go to 'Bell's Pastries and Tea House'? That's a nice place._

 _Good luck!_

 _Miss you._

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

March 18th, 2008

Mione had been the one to suggest it, so here he was - 'Bell's Pastries and Tea House'.

He'd been very hesitant at first, going out like this seemed very _coupley_ , but he had to admit that so far everything had planned out much better than with Jones two weeks ago. Not that this had been going on for long, no, they just got here less than five minutes ago.

Next to him where he stood in the queue was Melinda Bobbin, the woman he'd met in this very tea house a little more than a month ago (a fact that did nothing at all to calm down his nerves.) She wasn't well versed with his rules yet, after all this was only the second time they'd seen each other since that first encounter, the first time being a week or so ago when she'd stepped into 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' as she'd said she would, and that had just been a short visit. He'd of course immediately charmed her and shown her around the shop, ending strategically by all of the love potions and 'Attraction Fumes' that they had to offer, and there she'd breathlessly asked if he was by chance seeing anyone, with which he'd answered something similarly to _"I'm tied to no one - nor will I ever be -, but that doesn't mean I can enjoy myself from time to time."_ Cringy, yes, but it was the perfect line that clearly stated that he didn't do relationships but still sounded romantic enough for most people to swoon.

The small smirk she'd given him had been enough for him to know that she'd understood, at least to some extent, what he meant.

He'd barely given her any though since then though, and he'd definitely not planned to try to attempt to fill the empty spot Hermione's company usually occupied, but once the fifth Thursday since her departure arrived, Fred was starving for just a regular conversation with a female.

As if she knew exactly what she was doing, Bobbin had walked in to WWW right before lunch and when he'd seen her there the question had slipped out his mouth before his mind had even had time to think what it was doing. "Hey, Bobbin? Care to join me for a cup of tea?"

Her enthusiastic nod and flaming cheeks had immediately sent off a warning bell straight away that told him that maybe he'd been mistaken with how much she'd understood of his cheesy line last time they'd met.

However, It was too late to back out.

The problem was that he didn't really know what to do in this kind of situation. The best thing he liked about spending time with Mione was that she was one of the few females he could be himself with, not to say that the charming, flirtatious and pranking Fred was an act or that it wasn't him being himself in any way, no, but something about her made him dial it down just a bit. Maybe because he didn't feel the need to constantly impress her or tried to ravish her.

With Bobbin however, he still needed to be himself while putting on that special charm, and it was crucial that he handled her better than he had with Jones as he really didn't want her to walk away like she had, because it would affect not only his prospects of ever getting to know her, or rather her body, more intimately, but also his whole business would be in trouble if Mione guessed correctly and he and his twin were to banned to ever purchase anything from one of the Bobbin-family's apothecaries if he insulted her in anyway.

The conversation had been pleasant enough, though not nearly as interesting as it would have been with Mione, but there was something about her that just made him somewhat uncomfortable. He figured it was just because he didn't know how to talk to women casually, a fact that bothered him deeply. _Seriously_ , he'd always been this extremely laid back and extrovert person and he couldn't remember this being a problem a few years ago or back at school, and he wondered in the back of his mind what had changed since then.

'Bell's Pastries and Tea House' was definitely more crowded than usual because of the unpleasant weather - it was pouring and and the slushy, disgusting snow on the pavement was a pain to walk in… next to him Bobbin shifted on her feet and made a noise of irksomeness while glancing at the people ahead of them.

"This line is so long… How about we just go to 'Rosa Lee Teabag' instead?" She suggested and he hastily bit back the somewhat rude comment that longed to pass over his lips that indicated his strong dislike for 'Rosa Lee Teabag', her tea was absolutely dreadful.

"We could… but you know, it's quite the walk from here and it's really tipping down out there. Besides, Katie has the best pastries in all of Britain so it's worth waiting."

"Katie?" She asked hesitantly as she gave him a questionable look.

"Yes, Katie Jordan, she's a fellow Gryffindor alumni, and is now married to one of my best friends."

"Oh, okay." He thought he'd picked up some relief in her answer and as silence fell between them he peeked at her for a second but could read nothing on her face. He needed to up his game, this was becoming more awkward by the second and he didn't like that one bit. Things were never awkward with Hermione. His eyes lit up when he thought about one of their favourite games to play and decided it would be the perfect thing to pass the time.

"What if we play a game while we're waiting?"

"Sure, I can play a game." Melinda had tuned her head to look at him with a smile and eyes sparkling playfully, and for the first time since he'd asked her if she'd wanted to join him for tea he became excited. Maybe this would turn out to be a fun Thursday after all.

"Okay, great! Tell me what to order."

Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of confusion.

"Why?"

"You'll see. It'll be fun! Make a suggestion."

"...A biscuit?"

Okay, he hadn't explained what the game actually was so he couldn't really blame her for that poor attempt of a suggestion.

"No,no, you have to be _specific_ , like what _kind_ of biscuit."

Her eyebrows furrowed as a look of deep concentration attached itself on her face, and for a brief second a different forehead with a small adorable line was projected into his mind, but he shook that image out of his head.

"...A really _big_ biscuit."

He could do nothing but stare at her for a moment before he stifled the groan that wanted to escape. _"A really big biscuit"_ , did she really think _that_ was specific? There was so many options she could have mentioned and he could hear Mione's voice count up Chocolate Chip Oats, Cardamoms, Butter Crunch, Pumpkin Seeds, Ginger Nut, to name a few. Actually, Ginger Nut sounded really good, but that was beside the point.

He blinked and Bobbin's face in front of him came to focus, her grey eyes watching him expectantly, so he sighed and said "Yes. I'll order a _really big biscuit_ ", and by the looks of her big smile, she'd not picked up on the irony in his voice.

He missed his favourite witch.

* * *

 **A/N** : Hello everyone!

Here you go, another chapter! Yaas! I actually wrote much more than this, but it became so long that I decided to break it up into two chapters instead. Of course that means that you can expect the next chapter _very_ soon!

I just wanted to say that from this point, more of the characters will obviously be of my own creation seeing as we know _extremely_ few american witches and wizards during this time, as well as anything really about MACUSA in general, so this is me trying my best to add on to the magical world that we know and love. If I find more information I will edit it accordingly, but I have to say that I'm very pleased with my work so far.

I hope you enjoy!

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	11. Chapter 10

March 19th, 2008

"...Oh Merlin, Mione, I miss you so much! Can't you just call in sick to work for a week or so and come back here? You have _no idea_ how miserable life is here without you. Soon I really will go jump off a bridge. How would you feel _then_? knowing that my death was caused because you, my _best friend,_ choose to abandon me…"

He didn't care about the stern gaze she sent his way, he was too happy that he was actually able to talk to her again. Besides he could see the corners of her lips twitching.

He was kneeling on the floor in his flat with his head in the green flames again, and this was the first time they'd been able to talk to each other since that night in February when he'd woken her up at three o'clock in the morning, and _boy_ had he missed it. It wasn't as if they'd not tried to set up previous dates, but it had proven to be much more difficult to find a time that actually worked for both of them. Either he'd been called in for an emergency at his shop, or Hermione was out dining with friends or doing things work related, in fact even now when they were talking, she was busy shuffling through a huge pile of papers as she was about to leave in just a couple of minutes for a conference with the House Elf Unit and her temporary boss Fermin Dunn, where they were to discuss the progress being made and the best approach to continue.

"There's really no need for you to be so _dramatic_ Fred. I know you'll do no such thing. I'm sorry to hear that you're so miserable, but I fail to see how my absence can affect you to such an extent."

"Oh, come on! You know _exactly_ how involved you are in my life! Now that I think about it I'm sure this is just one big ploy where you have manipulated me for the last nine years. Admit it, it's my _fortune_ you're after, right?"

This time she really did smile.

"Yes Fred, you've figured out my plan. The _only_ reason I can stand to even be in your presence is the thought of all the gold in your vault, the gold that I intend to become mine one day."

"And how were you planning to get it?"

She leaned forward on the floor with a scheming glint in her eyes, her frizzy hair closing like a curtain on each side of her face, and she whispered "I'm going to _marry_ you of course. You think your complete lack of capability to socialize with other women is your own doing? Allow me to laugh. You've been playing right into my hands. I knew that one day you'd realise that I'm the only woman in your life, other than you mother, obviously."

He spurted at her last words, a horrified look on his face and she laughed happily at his expression.

" _complete lack of capability to socialize with other women_ "? You're yanking my wand, right? And are you calling me a mother's boy? Because I can assure you that I'm not."

"Oh, really? I got a letter from her just the other day complaining that you've been more needy than usual. Tell me, is it _true_ that you asked her to stay in your flat for a few days? Because that's hilarious, and also so _not_ like you."

"Shut up… "

That tiny crease on her forehead appeared when she inspected his face and she looked a little worried when she met his eyes again.

"I miss you too Fred, of course I do. Nothing's the same without you, but we'll power through this, and from what I can understand you actually had a somewhat great time with Melinda Bobbin, right? I mean, at least I think that coitus at the end of the day counts as a great end…"

He smirked but it didn't really reach his eyes.

"She was good in bed alright, bloody fantastic actually, but she's rather dense otherwise. Can you believe she really said I should order " _a really big biscuit_ "? It's not like it's difficult to be more specific… plus she kept glaring at Katie while she took our orders and I have absolutely no idea what that was all about."

A clock chimed behind her and she peered around at it, before she turned back to him with an apologetic smile.

"Not everyone understand our games Fred. Give it some time and I'm sure you'll have a good time. Look, I really need to go but we'll stay in touch, okay? You'll see that everything will get better and I's only two more months to go before I get home again. See you soon!"

"Bye Mione!"

She waved and then she was gone.

* * *

March 28h, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _It was really nice to finally be able to talk with you last week, and I'm so sorry that I'm so busy all the time that we can't seem to find time to do so more often. Just know that I really do miss you so much and I can't wait to see you again._

 _Things are going great with my work and after the meeting last week we have finally been able to move into phase 2, which basically means that we now spend most of out time doing less research and more writing. To my surprise President Peony Moncrieffe was also present at the conference, though she doesn't usually participate or is involved in this early stage, but it was really interesting to listen to what she had to say as she obviously have significantly more insight in the legal system here in America than I do. She then proceeded to invited me to attend a dinner party where most of the top Department Directors and other elitists were invited - which definitely was scary and intriguing at the same time, especially since I had only one day to prepare myself and get all the things I needed. We also decided to eat lunch together on Tuesday, joined by the Auror Commissioner Samuel g. Quahog._

 _It feels so strange to spend time with such high profiles here, I mean, it's happened before that I eat lunch with Kingsley Shacklebolt back home, but I knew him from before he was Minister so it doesn't feel as odd, and sure, I_ know _that I'm considered a war hero for helping Harry defeat Voldemort, but I never wanted that to be what defines me. I still busted my bum to get good N.E.W.T. scores and earn respect from my fellow ministry workers the hard way, especially since knew I wanted to change the conditions for all House Elves and was fighting in headwind to do so. I know that if Voldemort had won the war the whole world would have been affected beyond imagination, but no one here in America was actually in the middle of it like we were or lost people like we did, so for them to know who I am feels so out of place. I'd like to think it's more than my name that makes my achievements worthwhile. Eileen thinks this is a great opportunity though and has made me promise to mention the Werewolf laws she's been trying to get legalised for months._

 _By the way, I completely forgot to mention what happened to me two weeks ago! I was taking the floo network to work, just like I have every day since I got here, but when I arrived to the M.A.C.U.S.A headquarters, a highly unpleasant witch called Diaspro Bibbler from the 'Department of Unidentifiable Magical Objects' came up to me and insisted that she'd seen me use a two-way mirror to give classified information to our government. Of course that's something I'd never do and I tried to explain that to her but she kept screaming at me, called me many rude names, and said that she would make sure I'd never set my foot down in the headquarters again. Thankfully I was saved by a kind Obliviator who stood nearby before it became a huge commotion, but because of her I was late to a very important meeting. I have no idea what made her do it, but I'm extremely agitated to have her trying to taint my hard work with false accusations. The Obliviatior, which by the way is the occupational title most common here, told me that this wasn't the first time she, Dispro, had gathered up conspiracy theories against M.A.C.U.S.A employees, which was why no one had taken her seriously this time either, otherwise I'd really be in big trouble…_

 _How was Lucy's birthday celebration last weekend? I'm sure Percy and Audrey were less than pleased with the gift she got from you and George. I told Betty, Marcellus and Ike about it and they too definitely want a 'Penelope's Purple Pussy Cat' of their own, running around the house, being able to magically disappear and appear of its own will, but they became a bit less enthusiastic when I told them about how it's rubbing itself on you and your furniture, leaving purple slime everywhere that won't disappear with a simple 'Scourgify'. They did think it extremely hilarious that you decided to give one to Lucy since you named the product after her dad's ex-girlfriend Penelope Clearwater._

 _Have you remembered to check on Crookshanks recently? He's lived a long enough life that he doesn't deserve to starve to death now. Give him a kiss from me if you can catch him!_

 _Take care!_

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

April 1st, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _Happy Birthday!_

 _I can't believe I'm not there to celebrate your 30th birthday with you, but I hope you have a wonderful day filled with laughter and all of your favourite things._

 _I feel so privileged to have had a person such as yourself in my life for such a long time, and these past nine years with you have been more than I could ever have imagined. I must admit that I sometimes do feel more like a babysitter than an actual friend, but I wouldn't have you any other way._

 _You never cease to amaze me with you ability to look at life with such joy, positivity and determination, and still even with your pranking and mischievous exterior you manage to be one of the most caring persons I've ever had the pleasure to meet._

 _I hope you like my gifts! The first one is a original copy of the 'Secretum Philosophorum' (writer unknown), a fourteenth-century guide to trickery, which include a recipe on how to turn water into wine, but in addition to the new taste of wine the drinker also suddenly is hornswoggled into believing he or she have turned invisible. Imagine the initial shock and then everything that can happen when you believe you're invisible and free to do anything you want, when in reality everyone can see you make a complete fool out of yourself._

 _The second book is an original translation of the German book 'Till Eulenspigel', and it is about a man (Eulenspigel) who plays practical jokes on everyone he meets during his journey throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Fun fact: There is a suggestion that the name is in fact a veiled pun on a Low German phrase translating to "wipe-arse"._

 _The third one is for both you and George, I figured you'd appreciate some rare new ingredients to experiment with for the shop. These ones are only available to get here in North- and South America, and I'm sure you'll come up with something amazing with them. Don't worry, if you are to run out I have more than enough to spare here, which I'll give to you when I come back (there was a limit to how much I could send through owl post)._

 _The last one was a last minute gift that I just had to give you as I thought it to be very fitting since you've become so obsessed with sculptures. I just happened to walk past a small shop where you could order and customize your own and, well… I hope Sir Cadogan doesn't tear your little mini me into pieces, but I'm sure he (mini-Fred) can use one of the many pillows I got with him to defend himself from the crazy knight. Soon enough you'll discover that underneath that hideous magenta WWW uniform, he's wearing red briefs as well. I got George one too, but his is not as keen to get undressed as yours._

 _Happy birthday again!_

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

April 7th, 2008

Fred was singing loudly and falsely while he stood in the shower, taking his time to wash away all the sweat that naturally had appeared after his intense activity with Amy Frome, who was still in his bed. Why she was still here he had no idea, but he hoped she'd leave soon because for the first time ever he felt… _unsatisfied_. It bothered him. Never in his life had he ever been unsatisfied after a shag before, and Frome was _so good_. He had of course executed his part with an impeccable efficiency, and he doubted very much that _she_ had any clue that he'd not concentrated on the task, but… something was clearly off.

Sighing he turned the shower off and dried himself up before he wrapped the blue towel around his waist and headed back towards his bedroom.

Frome sat comfortably on the bed with a glass of water in her hands, looking thoroughly ravished with only a tank top and knickers on, showing off her long, smooth legs.

"I just went to get myself some water and that mini-Fred in the living room mooned me and did crude faces. Tell me, _why_ do you have a mini-me? It's absurd."

"It's not. It was a birthday gift."

"Well, it's not a very good one, is it?"

"Yes it is. It's perfect…" He turned to get dressed and had just slipped on a pair of briefs when:

"Oh, someone tired to floo call you earlier."

Whirling around he stared at her disbelievingly. "What? _When?_ "

"Yes, about 20 minutes ago or something like- Hey, what's going on?"

Before she'd even finished the sentence, he'd grabbed his wand, raced out the bedroom into the living room, scooped up some floo-powder into his hand and knelt by the fireplace still only in his briefs. Without a word to his onlooker he pointed his wand at the fireplace and silently thought 'Incendio', the flames flared up and he threw the powder in while loudly specifying "Hermione Granger - 16 Jackson Court, Manhattan, New York", watching as the flames turned from orange to green. He poked his head into the fire and called out.

No one was there. The flat on the other side of the earth was currently empty.

Finally giving up he returned to his own flat where Amy stood looking at him with a curious expression.

"What's wrong?"

Exhaling deeply he stood up and slowly walked back to his room, fuming over the whole situation. Had Frome just told him the second Mione had called he would've been able to talk to her, had he just waited to take his shower he would've heard the call himself, and if he'd not had Frome over for some meaningless sex, maybe he'd even been able to call Hermione himself earlier.

"I just missed an important call."

Behind him Amy wrapped her arms around his torso, clinging tightly as he felt her fingers trying to ease his tense muscles. It felt wrong. She needed to leave.

* * *

April 17th, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _Are you out of your mind? No, I will not send you a lock of my hair. The fact that you're even asking is a bit disconcerting, and I don't think I even want to know why you'd need it to begin with._

 _You weren't going to use it for a Polyjuice Potion, or anything like that, were you? Oh, I bet you were. Was it so that_ you _could impersonate me or were you going to force_ someone else _to do so? Because if your answer's the latter I can assure you that I take great offence in the matter and will_ seriously _reconsider our friendship if you think so little of me that you could be satisfied with the company of just anyone, as long as she, or he, share my looks. I certainly don't take it as a compliment that it's solely my looks that are missed by you. I thought it was my wit that you enjoyed, "_ friend _"._

 _Anyway._

 _Things are well with me, and though I've not had a lot of time off, I've had the great pleasure of visiting some of the most famous sights here in New York during the evenings, both the muggle, as well as magical ones. I went to the town of Sleepy Hollow, which is known by muggles and the wizarding world alike to be one of the most haunted places in the world - the muggles of course believe the legend about the Headless Horseman was the creation of a short story by the writer Washington Irving, but the truth is that the ghost of the Horseman really haunts the village, as well as many other ghost and poltergeists. Besides that I've visited museums, parks, the Empire State Building, and the most exciting one was when I saw a musical last weekend, namely 'The Phantom of The Opera'. I saw it once with my mum and dad back home at 'Her Majesty's Theatre' in London, and it brought back some fond memories. My mum is not a very musical person as you very well know, but my dad was a decent singer and he loved musical theatre._

 _Speaking of my mum, I was really surprised to hear that you visited her last weekend! That was really nice of you Fred, I worry that she's lonely without me there to pop in from time to time. I heard you went to that muggle thrift shop a few blocks away. You must have enjoyed to finally go with someone who appreciates "old stuff", right? Anyway, thank you for doing that._

 _I can't believe I've been here for nine weeks already! So much have happened and time is not slowing down. It will be very difficult to go back to work at the Ministry after this, not because I like working here more than I do back home, no, but because I don't have much to do there. Here it's intense, interesting and extremely challenging, but I'm also here to help accomplish something similar to what I've already achieved in Britain. There'll be nothing new for me to do. Like I said before I've helped out a bit at the Beast Division, and after many fascinating discussions with Eileen and Ike here at the Werewolf Unit, I think it would perhaps do me good if I were to move on to another project when I'm back. I know that S.P.E.W would manage without me at this point (though, I still would like to push for a House Elf to get to work there). Well... right now I'm focusing on my job here and then I'll evaluate my future once I get back in May. I just know for sure that I can't go back to being bored._

 _I hope you're well and can manage your life even without a lock of my hair (this is going to drive me insane thinking about why you'd need it…), and I'll write you soon again!_

 _I miss you._

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

April 22nd, 2008

"Okay, that's it. Come with me, you're buying me some ice cream."

Before he knew what was happening, he was being pulled out from the comfy chair behind the bright orange desk in the office where he'd just finished up accounting their budget for upcoming orders, and he'd planned to apparate to the Burrow for some lunch before going back home to his flat for his scheduled "Fred-existing-but-being-utterly-miserable"-time, that was the new Thursday activity.

His sister had stormed in, her long and fiery ginger hair, trailing behind her as she stomped up to him, her now almost seven months, and very prominent, pregnant stomach in the lead. Not wanting to argue, and not that he had much choice in the matter anyway, he followed after her in silent confusion as she dragged him through the shop, where George had snickered at the pair of them, out the door, and towards 'Bell's Pastries and Tea House', never letting go of his arm.

"Ginny, what-"

"Oh, shut up and just come. We're almost there."

They entered the shop which was much less crowded than when he'd been there with Bobbin a month ago, so there was just two others in the queue before them when they stopped by the counter. Once they'd halted he turned expectantly to Ginny to get an explanation as to why she'd come to kidnap him, but she stared at the ice-cream menu, although he guessed she was very much aware that he waited for her to say something. After a few moments the large intake of breath was the only warning he got before she exploded in a fierce but low voice:

"You've been moaning more than Myrtle for the last 10 weeks, fussing about how _poor you_ have _no one_ to have proper conversation with or do the things you normally would do with Hermione, and yet your _thick skull_ couldn't think to ask _me_ , you _own sister_ for Merlin's sake, if _I'd_ be interested or at least _willing_ , to do something with you. I'm offended, I truly am. Hi Katie, how are you? I'll have a Sticky Toffee Pudding ice-cream, hard packed in a Waffle Cone, please. Thank you!"

Shocked from her outburst and befuddled by the extremely quick change of attitude as it apparently was their turn to order, he was at a loss for words. Thankfully Katie saved the situation as he tried to process what Ginny had just said, and he just had to nod when she asked if he wanted his normal cup of tea.

"Anything else?"

"I think I'll have some hot chocolate too… Fred, I'll go and find us a seat while your paying. Nice seeing you Katie!"

Then Ginny walked off, leaving him, still a bit taken aback, by the counter to pay for their things.

"Do you want anything else?" Katie asked with a smile as she prepared their order for them. When he didn't respond, she stopped what she was doing and glanced up at him, noting his concentrated look "You know, It's really not the same without you coming in here like clockwork every Thursday anymore. I hope you'll get back to the old routine once Hermione's back."

Yes. He knew it wasn't the same.

"Yes, me too... Thanks." He gave her some galleons and knuts, then headed off to the table where Ginny was seated and took his place opposite her.

" _Well?_ What do you have to say to defend yourself?"

"I just didn't think about it… "

"Well, that much is _obvious_ , isn't it?" She sighed and looked at him properly with critical eyes. "Trying to replace Hermione isn't the answer you know. You can't just cast anyone of your trollops, which I know you definitely have more than enough of, to play the part of 'Best Friend'. The strong friendship you have with Hermione, how surprising it may be to all of us, is something that you've been building up for so many years, so of course her absence is noticeable. We feel it too you know, Harry, Ron and I, but you know how we get through it? By spending time with our other friends! Sure, you see George every day, but he says you're so gloomy to be around one could think you're a _dementor_. Go play more quidditch with Lee, Oliver and Adrian, go do things you don't normally do with Hermione! Or if you want some female pointers, then there's still a lot _I_ can help with even though I'm pregnant, and I'm sure Angelina or Katie wouldn't mind spending some time with you- Actually, Angelina would be _perfect_ since she already knows how to deal with your kind! What I'm trying to say is that you have to stop trying to mold your meaningless, dimwitted bimbos, into Hermione-clones because It's simply not possible."

With a sly smile and a look of complacency, she leaned back in the comforter, obviously really proud of her speech, and since he'd had some time to actually let her words sink in, he couldn't help but to smirk back at her.

"Wow... you've had a lot of time to think about this, am I right? Harry's forcing you to lay down all day?"

The scowl he received was answer enough but then she smiled at him again, her brown eyes sparkling mischievously.

" _See?_ Can you banter with any of the women with whom you have meaningless sex like this?"

A surprised chuckle, the first genuine one since forever he thought, escaped him at his sister's cheekiness, and she smiled even wider at the sound.

"So, is there anything we can do right now?"

He thought about it for a moment, then "Tell me what to order - be specific!"

* * *

April 23rd, 2008

Once again he was crouching on the floor with his head in the flames, and once again she was in a hurry to get ready for something important. This time she was dressed in a slightly dull looking, navy maxi-dress as she was to leave for a banquet at M.A.C.U.S.A, and her hair had been tamed into sleek curls again. Her face was completely bare except for some mascara framing her big chocolate eyes and chapstick on her lips.

Over all she looked very pretty in a professional way.

"...Well, I'm really glad you had a great time with Ginny yesterday. Was she able to play our game and figure out what you should order then?"

He'd just told her everything, well actually not the main part about his sister telling him to get a grip, but everything else, all the fun parts. How she'd been willing to play their guessing game, and doing so properly by giving him specific suggestions, then how they'd walked around for a while just talking, about James and Albus and their never ending fights, about Harry's work, quidditch and so much more. He'd really enjoyed it, and how he'd realised that he hadn't spent any quality time with her for quite some time now.

"I'm sure you don't have to bribe her to go into 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' either." She smirked at him with a knowing look, and he grinned widely back at her. Of course he didn't have to bribe her to come with him to the Quidditch store either, well, not that often anyway, but he knew she wasn't very fond of spending a lengthy amount of time in there, which was definitely the case whenever they did go there. But it was the exact same thing only reversed with 'Flourish and Blotts'

"Well, she did owe me for forcing me to pay for her ice-cream, but you're right, Ginny would never have let an opportunity to look at quidditch supplies slip. It was very amusing to see her glare at everything and everyone, all because she's not able to fly while being pregnant. She was happy to sign some autographs to a couple of 'Holyhead Harpies' fans though."

Mione's tinkling laugh filled the room and he relished at the sound. His day with Ginny truly had been great, but it was not the same as it always was with his favourite bushy haired witch.

"Although I do miss your sister very much, I can't say that I envy you too much being in her company at the moment. I remember her mood swings all to well her from her previous pregnancies..." He grimaced. Yes, Ginny was fiery enough as she was and it seemed impossible that it could get worse - but as it turned out it was _very_ much possible.

She plucked at her dress and tried to smooth out imaginary wrinkles before doing the same to her for once perfect hair, and for some reason she seemed to be more nervous than usual.

"Stop fussing, you look fine!" The sceptical look she sent his way told him that he'd not done a good job of calming her nerves.

"Fine? Just _fine_?" She huffed.

"Would you feel better if I told you there's a huge stain on the back? Don't worry about it though, it gives an interesting touch to it."

"No- What- does it _really_?"

Her expression had quickly changed from sceptical to apprehension and distress before she disappeared from view, probably to check in a nearby mirror. A second later he heard a reproaching growl. " _Fred!_ "

Even with tears of mirth clouding his sight, he could still make out her dour glare as she came into vision again, but he ignored this and continued to laugh, almost falling over in the process.

"It's not funny, you _twit_."

"On the contrary my dear, it was utterly hilarious!" As she kneeled closer to him he could see that her expression had softened quite a bit as she was never able to stay mad at him for long, but she was still observing him with a deprecating look.

"You do understand don't you that this is the biggest event I'll get to experience here? It's the annual fundraiser for the Magical Congress, and I'm already nervous enough without you making my life more difficult…"

"You look great, though I do think you could do with a bit more cleavage- _Kidding_ , I'm _kidding_!" He quickly added the last past when he noticed her expression darken again.

"You're _incorrigible_." The comment was accompanied by a head shake and the slight smile she gave him was beautiful and caused a sudden ache in his stomach that he couldn't explain.

"Fred, I have something I-"

A very pronounced knock on her door broke her off mid-sentence and she quickly stood up and fidgeted nervously. "Coming!" she announced to whoever it was waiting outside, before looking back down at him with a mixture of excitement and nerves.

"I need to go. I'll talk to you later!"

His features failed to disguise the disappointment on his face, but she missed it and when he wished her a great time, she beamed at him and waved, before walking out of sight.

* * *

May 1st, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _I can't believe that tomorrow it's been 10 years since the Final Battle and the Defeat of Voldemort. In some ways it feels like another lifetime ago, and yet it's still so fresh in my memory._

 _So much happened, so much darkness that no one, child or adult, should ever had to experience, but I feel proud to have been part it, to have fought for my right to practice magic just like everyone else because I'm muggleborn, but also every creatures right to live and not be treated like lesser beings just because they happened to be born different. For a world in which every house elf to gets paid for their hard work, every good man who just happens to transform into a werewolf one day a month have the same opportunities to get a job, every centaur that are forced to live in tiny specific areas, every giant, every mermaid, every goblin - I fought for everyone._

 _To have fought the evil and the darkness for the outcome we got is worth every scar, every aching bone in my body and all the horrible memories that still haunts me to this day._

 _But it still hurts because we lost so many people to this war._

 _Remus and Tonks, Lavender, Professor Snape, Colin, not to mention Professor Dumbledore, Sirius, Cedric, Mad-eye Moody, Dobby… and so many more._

 _We thought we'd lost Harry._

 _We thought we'd lost you._

 _It hurts more than anything to think about everything that could have happened, and you_ _have no idea how grateful I am that I'm able to even write this letter to you, that you're alive and well._

 _I dreamt about Bellatrix last night for the first time in about two years, but I was able to understand it was a dream fairly quickly this time. Thankfully._

 _Kingsley wants me to be there for the anniversary tomorrow, but I knew when I left for America that I wouldn't be able to make it. I feel like I wouldn't be able to celebrate the victory where so much was lost but I do wish I could be there as moral support for Harry, Teddy and everyone else._

 _I'm happy with how we've been able to rebuild our world, though there's still much to do to, much left to fight for - werewolf- and centaur rights for example - but I feel optimistic about the future and know that everything much better than it was before, and that is all that matters._

 _You've been a big part of my recovery progress - your friendship, your joke shop and your constant way to be able to look at everything with happiness and laughter -, and you were an inspiration even before that night on New Year's eve because you succeeded to recover from your own severe injury in record time with your positive attitude._

 _I'm thankful to be alive and to have you, your family, Harry, and my mother to support me and remind me of all the good in the world._

 _Take care and know that I miss you very much!_

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

May 8th, 2008

He was exhausted.

Some annoying kids had let loose some of the displayed fireworks in the store just before tea time, and it had been such a ginormous mess that they'd had to close for the rest of the day to be able to clean it all up. It was so bad that he'd even had to call in George from his day off, something he did feel quite bad about, but at least it had been a surprisingly fun project.

'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' really was one of the few things that made time go by faster these days, because it was the perfect way to keep himself occupied and not sulk about his otherwise boring and mundane life.

Urgh, never in his life did he ever think to call his life mundane, but here he was.

Why he was till in his office, sketching in his notebook he had no idea. Sure, the shop (if it had been open) would have closed by 7PM, and it was not unusual for any of the two, sometimes three brothers when Ron joined them, to stay much longer than that, but seeing as it was just past nine o'clock and all he could think about was his bed, his comfy and _empty_ bed, he wondered why he was till there. It was a tad odd that he was so tired, seeing as he usually was something Hermione called a "night owl", which she described to mean that he was one who could stay up way past midnight, but it seemed like that was not to be the case today.

Yawning widely, he grabbed his wand from the desk and gave it a quick flick to put all the papers in order and get rid of all of the wrinkled pieces that had been torn from his notebook and was now spread across the floor, then he debated whether or not he would apparate up to his flat but decided against it because he didn't want to risk splinching himself… again. It had happened a couple of times in the past, but then Mione had been able to patch him up again, but since she wasn't here anymore… well, it was not worth it.

No, he was even too tired to think about her right now, though for a moment he couldn't help but to wish that she would be upstairs waiting for him to come home and tuck him in, wispering soft words in his ear as he fell asleep.

He slowly worked himself to the tiny hallway, struggled up the narrow staircase with the door leading to his living room at the top, and once he was in his flat he headed straight toward his bed where he sprawled out on top of the striped cover, completely washed-out, and instantly fell into a deep slumber.

He didn't hear the female voice calling his name from the fireplace in the next room.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello everyone!

Here you are, the second part of my previous chapter as promised (and the longest one so far!) I can't believe I'm up to almost 50K words already, and the really interesting parts have not even started yet! I hope you liked the way I tried to move the story along (Hermione's letters and Fred's days, their floo calls etc.), I struggled a bit with how I wanted it as I had originally planned for there to only be letters between the two, but I think this turned out better.

I know I said in my A/N a couple of chapters back that it would be only one or two chapters before the actual plotline, but it was more information than I had first expected for me to get into these chapters. Oops. Well, I expect for there to be one or two more leading up to Hermione's return.

I hope you like it and if you do, please leave some love! I'm so happy there's almost 100 of you whom have chosen to follow this story so far, and I hope I don't disappoint! I greatly appreciate every favourite, follow and review you leave. **Thank you!**

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	12. Chapter 11

May 13th, 2008

Here he was once again, laying down on the small and cushiony sofa in the tidy living room in the flat that was not his own.

He was more than certain that Hermione didn't mind him being there even if it wasn't because of his duties to look after the orange fur-ball of a half-kneazle that she loved so much, because it was just another habit that they'd adapted over the years. How many times had he not come home from work just to find her laying down on his sofa, just like he was doing in her flat right now. It was natural to them - he needed never to ask if he could pop in for a visit, he just did, and it was the same the other way around - however, it was true that some boundaries was necessary once in a while, when she was in a relationship for example. Her partners didn't usually appreciate the freedom in which Fred could just appear without any warning, and the same was for Fred when he had one of his ladies over. Although to be fair, he didn't really care about the latter too much, it was she who had made him promise to put up anti-apparition wards when he was otherwise engaged after walking in on him " _too many times to count_ " (her words).

After filling up the bowl with some of the fancy, overly expensive food that was the only source of nourishment that Crooks didn't complain about (thanks to Ginny who'd taken care of - and spoiled - the feline-ish creature when Mione had been too busy helping her mother settle down after her father's death three years ago), Fred had confusingly enough felt that this time something stirred inside of him when he looked around the lonely space, a feeling he was unfamiliar with and he.

The first thing he'd noticed was how strangely neat everything was. Of course, seeing as it was _Hermione Granger_ who lived there, it was to no one's surprise a very well organized environment, however there was the smallest things that just showed that she'd not been there for a very long time. For once you could actually see the worn surface of the coffee table as it was free of the usual parchments and books that otherwise covered it and the same was the case with the white desk behind the sofa. Before he'd barely been able to recall what it looked like but now everything was in it's designated place. He also noticed that there were no books laying around like he was used to, as there usually was at least a dozen titles spread across the flat, always within reaching distance from a place to sit down. Now all the books in the bookshelves were squished together even more tightly.

Even though it was still evident that someone lived there, a hollow feeling was hanging in the air and that made him really uncomfortable. In fact, the strange emptiness around him scared him so much that at first he'd been at the brink of having an anxiety attack, and though they didn't occur very often it was still one of the few side effects from the war and spending time in St. Mungos healing from his many injuries, but his rescue had came in the shape of Crookshanks as he stroked himself against his legs and glancing up at him with knowing yellow eyes, all while licking his mouth in a satisfied manner capturing the remains of his meal. Fred knew that one of the added reasons after the Second Wizarding War that Mione was so fond of her fur-ball was because of his abilities to calm her down after one of her episodes. After taking a few deep breaths to get himself under control he'd bent down and patted Crooks in gratitude as this was the first time he'd experienced his calming influence first hand. He'd slid himself down onto the moss green sofa. saw one of the decorative pillows from the corners of his eye and without even thinking about it he grabbed it and hugged it close to his body while breathing steadily and as the vague but sweet and familiar scent of apples and ink hit him, the stirring inside of him had appeared again but this time it filled him with a calm and... was it happiness?

He couldn't understand as to why he was so affected by this place _now_ when he'd never noticed anything different about it _before_ but he figured it had something to do with the fact that the flat of the woman that he missed so much was so similar to her. Neat, organized, warm, filled with knowledge and with a fun and exciting edge.

So here he was, thinking about everything and nothing.

He had no idea for how long he'd been there and he didn't care either, but daylight had long ago ceased to shine a light through the window and as he hadn't bothered to turn on a lamp or at least light the fireplace or some candles, the room was engulfed in darkness. Well, not completely - the small telly opposite him gave a soft light to the room as it currently showed a reprise marathon of a famous show but he gave it no thought, the volume was just loud enough so that he could sometimes hear snippets of some dialogue.

In 15 long days she'd finally be back home and time couldn't move more slowly until then.

 _"...I fail to see how my absence can affect you to such an extent..._ "

Those had been her exact words when he'd jokingly (or not so jokingly) had said that he'd jump off a bridge out of misery. Looking back he remembered answering her in his usual jesting manner, but now it bothered him deeply.

Why _did_ her absence affect him as much as it did?

He'd not been himself since she left and it frustrated him to no end that he had no idea why that was. Sure, she was his best friend and they spent most of their free time in each others company, but that didn't mean he had no other friends. He'd always had a healthy social life and that had hardly changed in the past nine years. But now? Now he could be surrounded by friends and family and still feel isolated and alone.

Maybe he just needed to get a leg over.

He'd not had sex since that time in early April when Frome had been over and he'd missed that floo call from Mione, and it was definitely the longest time he'd been without it ever since the war and when he was still in recovery from that wall tumbling down upon him, but for some unknown reason his lack of a recent _shag_ didn't seem good enough as to why he would feel this way. He'd felt like something was wrong even from the very moment she'd left for America.

After his chat with Ginny he'd completely given up on trying to connect with other women the way he did with Hermione, and though he had spend some time with his sister, and once or twice an evening with his twinster-in-law and Katie Jordan whit what actually had been something close to a bearable time, it just wasn't enough. Instead he'd found that the only way for him to pass the time and combat the excruciating and traumatic misery that had become his regular state of mind, was to be by himself, doing what he'd normally do with _her_. It might sound a bit nutty (which was why he'd not mentioned it to anyone, not even his own twin brother), but doing this he could at least pretend she was there and imagine the conversations and arguments that surely would have occurred if she actually had been present. Though he presumed that if she'd _actually_ been there he wouldn't have won even half of the arguments he did now.

Wacky, yes, but it worked better than anything else.

He'd taken to walk around in Kensington Gardens and sit by the Peter Pan statue reading to himself, he walked around their favourite shops in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and muggle london, went to their favourite restaurants, and so much more. Everything they used to do together he was now doing all by himself. Tragic really.

It wasn't as if he during these dire months hadn't noticed that some women had taken an interest in him, it was after all the norm when you looked as good as he did. They flirted and glanced his way or even tried to start up a conversation, but for the first time in his life he just wasn't interested in that. _Why was that?_

He thought of one incident that had happened just over one week ago when he'd been at 'Bell's Pastries and Tea House'. Everything was as normal as it could be without Hermione there, first he'd ordered not just one but _two_ pastries for himself, had a short conversation with Katie just like usual before sitting down in one of the comfy armchairs by one of the tables in the corner farthest away from the large windows, the Pumpkin Pasty and the Chocolate cake in front of him. While poking around the two edibles with his fork, simultaneously scribbling down notes on a piece of paper in front of him, a beautiful woman with wavy hair that complemented her dark skin had sat down two chairs down the row, looking at him with a shiny smile and sparkling black eyes, clearly inviting him to come sit down by her. In all she was _everything_ and _more_ that he usually looked for in a woman and three months previously he would've put on that charming smile of his and made his way over to her, determined to make her better acquaintance. This time however, he's barely glanced at her before returning to his notes and leaving the café a few minutes later, his pastries almost untouched.

And this wasn't the only time something like that had happened.

A few weeks before that he'd been out getting a drink from the 'Leaky Cauldron' and there he'd run into a tall blonde a few years older than himself with a body any man would go to the extremes for to get her permission to inspect closer, or at _least_ gawk at for an extended period of time. Her icy blue eyes had been almost difficult to see as she'd fluttered her long eyelashes at him while asking for directions in a foreign accent, and while his past self would've been more than a little enthusiastic to show such a looker around by himself - one prime example of such previous occasions was of course when he'd met all of Fleur's Veela cousins from hers and Bill's wedding 11 years ago, or all of the Beauxbaton or Durmstrang students that had stayed at Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament in his sixth year - but this time he'd simply grunted some poorly attempted directions to the woman before downing the rest of his drink and taking off, not even bothering to see if she'd understood anything he'd said.

He just wasn't interested in a meaningless shag anymore. _Why?_ He couldn't fathom how _her_ absence could affect this part of his life, she'd never been a part of that particular equation before, and yet he the burning desire, the flirt, the need, the pleasure that had ruled his life for so many years had almost completely burned out, all because of a woman he'd never even experienced any of this with.

He had never even thought of her in that way before!

Or had he?

Well, he _had_ tried to get her to sleep with him during that New Year's eve so many years ago when he'd mistaken her for Romilda Vane, but that was only because of his pissed and randy state. And because of the challenge of it. Right?

Most people wouldn't say that she possessed the most beautiful features they'd ever seen, especially not compared to some of the birds that he usually gravitated towards, she was definitely very pretty in a natural way and he knew it. She had long lashes that perfectly framed her chocolate eyes, soft skin that darkened beautifully when she blushed and the most captivating little dimple on the right side of her mouth that often gave away her amusement even when she tried to conceal it. To be honest not much of her prettiness had been very noticeable during the years at Hogwarts when her large front teeth had captivated much of the attention but when that had been altered during her fourth year and everyone had seen her at the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, her attractiveness had improved considerably. Her hair was another one of her features that made her so special as it truly had a mind of it's own, and he was certain that if she tried she would be able to hide her most beloved secrets in it and they would be safe forever, never to be found again. She wasn't very tall but neither really short per say, it was more the fact that she had a tendency to surround herself with people taller than her, like the rest of the Weasleys, but she definitely was very well proportionate with modest curves and a slim figure.

Admittedly it wasn't as if he'd never noticed her appearance before, but for the first time he took his time to think about his reactions. He remembered how his mouth had momentarily dried out at the glorious sight of her delicate but tempting cleavage in that Myrtle green maxi dress that she'd worn at the wedding in February or how much he appreciated that black pencil skirt that showed off her firm behind and that she insisted was too inappropriate for work, and other small things like that, that somehow still managed to burn itself into the back of his mind.

A memory from that morning after the wedding was projected before his inner eye of when he'd seen her wrapped only in her white towel, her skin soft and… wet.

" _...if you pound on that door one more time, I will pound on you…_ " I will pound on you. _I will pound on you_.

A very indecent scene started to play out in his head and it frightened him how suddenly the fire that no other woman had managed to light for the past three months was able to come back just from the few moments when he'd lost control.

 _No._

No, this couldn't be! He was thinking about Mione, _Hermione Granger_ for Merlin's sake! She was his best friend! She wasn't like any of the others - she _meant_ something to him!

She meant something to him. But what?

He thought of an elderly muggle couple that he'd met back at Hyde Park two days ago. Their boat had gotten stuck in reed in the Serpentine river, and they had trouble getting it out again. The woman had been the first to catch his attention because even though they struggled quite a bit, she'd smiled fondly at her husband while giving him words of encouragement as the man tried in vain to get the boat to move with one of the oars, a defeated look on his face. She'd glanced up for one moment and met Fred's eye.

" _Pardon me, sir, but it seems like we're in a bit of a pickle. Would you mind terribly to give us a push?"_

" _We're having a hard time…_ " the man had commented apologetically gesturing at the reed.

Even though he'd obviously never met the couple before they had had such a familiar and loving aura surrounding them that he immediately returned their apologetic smile with a grin of his own.

" _Certainly, it would be my pleasure. I'll just give it a bit of a push and you should be on your way again._ "

" _Thank you._ " the man let out a sigh and his wife agreed with a small " _That sounds lovely_."

He'd started to push at the stern and the boat rocked unsteadily from side to side. " _You better sit down sir_ " Fred had instructed to the now relieved man as his wife had laughed heartily, tugging at the back of her husband's shirt and forcing him to a seated position next to her. It had been a bit harder than he had first anticipated, and the man had kept worrying that Fred would fall into the water but finally with one last wriggle he'd managed to free the boat from the reed, and though he indeed almost lost his balance there for a second he'd saved himself from falling in.

" _Thank you so much young man!_ "

" _You were wonderful you were, thank you!_ "

He'd wished them a good afternoon and waved them off, smiling to himself as he saw them cuddled affectionately together while rowing away from him. They'd been so happy and so loving, and while he'd walked away from them, he'd looked back once in a while to see the way they acted with each other.

Before that moment he'd never really imagined his life as an old man, but he remembered thinking about how he would love to take Mione out rowing one day, just like the elderly couple had. How come that every time he tried to imagine the future she was always there by her side?

While he'd couldn't deny it anymore that he indeed felt a very strong physical attraction to her - and had felt that way for quite some time as well -, that just confused him even more because it was impossible that this interest was the main reason for their friendship, heck, he'd not even realised he _felt_ that way until this very moment! No, it wasn't the attraction that made her the most incredible woman in his life.

It was because no one had ever been able to get as close to him as she had, the only exception being George, but even with his own twin there was something that was missing, a _connection_ on a different - and dared he say _deeper_ \- level. A connection that he so clearly felt he shared with her.

She truly was that one person with whom he could have a conversation with for hours and hours, and yet be disappointed each time it came to an end. That one person that he never had to do anything special with, such as go out for dinner or engage in different activities for them to enjoy each other's company. The one who knew all of his secrets, even the one that he'd never shared with his own twin brother - that he sometimes had felt lonely ever since his brother married Angelina and they weren't each other's first priority anymore.

He could be _himself_ with her, and in turn she could be herself with him.

Once again he thought about how she affected him but this time instead of focusing on the libidinous reactions that she induced, he let the deeper feelings that had been suppressed all this time come to the surface.

How it felt like his heart always skipped a beat when she smiled. How he loved to rile her up just to see her cheeks colour brightly and the excitement when he saw the glint in her eyes when he challenged her in any way. How her loud laugh and her unladylike snorts made something flutter in his stomach.

He remembered the feel of how well she fitted to his mold when they danced at Ronniekins wedding, and how he had enjoyed it immensely. How perfect that moment had been, and wishing more than anything that he'd appreciated it more instead of concentrating on something as trivial as getting away from Rose Zeller.

That week when he'd been home slowly dying with the flu and she'd been there keeping him company, holding his head in her lap as he lay cuddled up on his own sofa and the feel of absolute content as she'd stroked his hair with tender fingers, telling him everything about her life before Hogwarts - how she'd been bullied by an older girl at school that used to sabotage all of her books until one day when she finally had enough and accidentally had caused the bully's left nostril to double in size, complete with yellow nose hair. The mess from his soup that had been in his lap before he'd laughed so much that it ended up everywhere. Her blush as he'd called her out on her prankster tendencies even at an early age.

How heartbroken he'd felt when she'd arrived to the 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' on that day five years ago, looking absolutely gutted and told him that she and Anthony Goldstein had decided to go their separate ways. He'd comforted her, telling her that she deserves someone better than that tosser anyways. Something in him had let out a sigh of relief that day, not that he would ever admit it to her, but he'd always figured it was because he thought that Goldstein was a wrong fit for her. He'd been a bit to boring and uptight for her, though when he let loose even Fred couldn't deny that it had been rather interesting, but that had happened far to sporadically for Goldstein to be considered as a " _fun_ " person.

No matter how many boyfriends or dates she'd had in the past, Fred always knew that it wouldn't last in the long haul. No one had been good enough her.

She deserved someone with humor and playful tendencies that could help her relax and think about something other than work, someone who could match her intelligence and wit enough to keep her on her toes. She deserved someone who'd appreciate her even when she was miffed and/or grumpy about something unimportant when she worked so much that she was too knackered to do anything else. Someone who she could fight with and still know that at the end of the day they'd always be by each other's side.

She deserved someone that took care of her just as much as she would take care of him.

She deserved someone like himself.

And what about him? Well, he most certainly didn't deserve someone as _extraordinary_ as her, but he didn't care at all about that. He might be an absolute prat for not realising all of this sooner, but better late than never as they always say, right?

* * *

May 14th, 2008

After his realisation last night he'd not been able to think about anything else. It befuddled him to no end, and he'd tried many times to argue his own comprehension that maybe he was just confused, that the fact that he'd been in her flat had somehow brought forward something that was not _really_ there, that he just missed his best friend and her absence was playing with his sanity. That he misunderstood his own feelings. But he always ended up with the same conclusion. Even after he'd finally left her flat and the irritably observant Crookshanks to try and get some sleep in his own bed, nothing had changed, except perhaps that the longing he felt for her grew even stronger.

But of course he'd not been able to get any sleep at all.

Working at his shop had been an absolute nightmare during the day as he was unable to focus on what he was doing, and since George had his day off, Verity and Ron had been forced to juggle most of the things by themselves, the latter occasionally glaring at him which Fred of course was blissfully unaware of.

While restocking some shelves, too distracted not to realise that he kept putting the wrong products in the wrong place, he'd pondered his situation carefully with a slight panic.

Now that he knew of his own feelings, what difference did it make? Did he want a _relationship_ with her? Out of sheer reflect he'd cringed slightly at the thought, but the more he thought about it, the less intimidating it felt.

Did he tell her how he felt about her? He didn't really feel like he had an option in the matter as he had no idea how in the name of Merlin's buttocks he'd ever be able to keep it a secret from her. She could read him just as easily as she read the most complicated of books.

What if she didn't feel the same way he did? What if he confessed and she rejected him, would their friendship be able to survive that? Probably not. The fact that he - _Frederick Gideon Weasley_ , Prankster Extraordinaire and notorious Casanova (a term he'd learnt from the lady in question herself) - had gone and fallen for his best friend was a complete disaster.

But what if she _did_ feel the same way? Let's say that she for some unknown reason (other than the fact that he was the most outstanding, remarkable and handsome creature he'd ever met) did reciprocate his feelings, _what then_? He wasn't a romantic person. He pitied his brothers for bearing the ol' Ball and Chain and scoffed at the notion that life is only complete when you finally have a family of your own. He knew she'd probably want to get married someday and though she did prioritize her work now, she too would want to have a family, complete with a set of clever offspring. _How_ was he _ever_ going to be able to be what she'd want him to be?

The more he thought about it though, he realised that he didn't really care about the answer to any of these questions. She was worth the shot, _right_?

The image of them together, holding hands and walking through Hyde Park in the far off future when they are old and gray came swiftly into view in his mind and he sighed zealously.

 _She was worth it._

* * *

"... And Pucey scores! Another 10 points to us - team 'Ginger Grit's'!"

"Lee, mate, we agreed that we'd be called the 'Rumble Roars'."

"No Ollie - you, Lee and Pucey decided to be the 'Nagging Nargles', whilst Fred and I are the 'Weasley Whooshers'. It makes no sense that you would call yourself the 'Ginger Grit's'? None of you are fortunate enough to share the same handsome nuance of carrot-y orange that are exclusive only to us Weasleys."

"Nah, George, we certainly did not agree to be called the 'Nagging Nargles'. We're the 'Rumble Roars', and that's it. What the heck is a _nargle_ anyways?"

Had Fred paid any attention to the conversation he probably would have thought it to be very amusing to hear Oliver Wood say the word 'nargle' with his thick Scottish accent, and he would most certainly have forced him to say it again and again just for the laugh of it, but unfortunately for him, his mind was still occupied on the same thing that had been buzzing around in his head for the past 36 hours.

They were once again playing quidditch, Fred and his mates, though even that couldn't capture his attention for long this evening. This time he was paired with his twin, mainly because no one else was too keen to deal with his gloomy mood over the past three months, but the evenings when he was hanging out with his friends going out for a drink or especially spent flying on his broom had, up until this point, been one of the few occasions where he'd actually been close to acting like his normal self again. But that wasn't at all the case tonight though. It wasn't as if he didn't try - because he really did - but this new revelation was like a ticking explosion waiting to come out and he had no idea how to control it for much longer.

He had considered to talk to George about it, or rather - he _knew_ he _needed_ to talk to George about it as this was a field that he himself was extremely unfamiliar with and his twin had a great advantage in, he just didn't know exactly what to say. He hoped George would understand and could help him sort out his feelings before Mione's return in a fortnight, but at the moment he was too confused to know what to do with himself without anyone else's opinion.

"I'm starting to think that you have lost your touch Weasley's. We're in the lead with 60 to 0 and we've been playing for quite some time now. Feel like giving up yet?"

"Oh go get stuffed, Pucey! We'll catch up to you soon enough, you'll see. Let's go Freddie!"

Trying to get his head back in the game, Fred searched the pitch as an attempt to locate the Golden Snitch as it was his job as seeker to catch it and hopefully win this game to his and Georges favour. Around him, Lee was doing his job guarding the three hoops while trying his best to psyche him so that Adrian could get the Quaffle back from George that approached him in a fast speed.

"What you got, huh George? Think you can make it, do you?" Lee taunted and laughed wickedly as George missed another shot and was forced to retreat to guard their own hoops.

" _Come on_ Fred, you could at least help me get these wankers off me!" his twin yelled at him as Adrian threw the Quaffle in his direction and thankfully missed to score again by an inch.

Fred ignored his brother and instead focused his energy on Oliver who suddenly had darted up following what seemed to be something small and golden. He was able to catch up and grabbed a hold onto the broom in front of him, forcing it to slow down considerably, but when he then flew past him the Snitch was gone again, making Wood growl at him for making him lose sight of it.

Urgh, _why_ did he have to go and realise his feelings for her _now_? Feelings complicated things and he did _not_ like complicated _at all,_ but the connection they shared still felt like the easiest, most natural thing in the world to him. She was truly the most _incredible_ woman he'd ever had the pleasure to meet.

It wasn't as if anything had to _change_ , not _really_. Sure, he was certain that at first he'd be utterly terrible at the whole relationship thing, but she would no doubt help him and they already had the foundation to make it work, only he would be adding the perks of being able to kiss and hold her.

His stomach did a lurch at the thought of snogging her. To feel her soft but slightly chapped lips, which was a result of her biting her lips when she concentrated too much, against his own, moving in synch and their tongues battling for dominance. He gulped.

"Fred, you _bloody idiot_! The Snitch was hovering _right in in front of you_! You were staring right at it! What's the _matter_ with you today? He was wakened from his ponderings by his twin's frustrated shout across the pitch, and groaned when he realised that he'd completely forgotten the game that was still on.

"Bollocks. I'm sorry, George, I have a lot on my mind right now... I think I might have feelings for Mione."

For some reason unknown even to himself he'd somehow made the decision just to voice his inner thoughts out loud and it was too late to take it back now, though he made it sound like he was more uncertain about it than he actually was. In reality he didn't just think that he had feelings for her - at this point he was pretty dang sure about it.

He think he saw something gold glimmer in the distance and spun around, directing his broom to get close to it but soon realised that no one else was moving and turned back to look at them. Four shocked faces stared back at him, mouths hanging open.

"Come on, let's just play…"

"Oh, Nonono _no_! you can't just drop something like _that_ and than go on like nothing happened!" Lee, who looked like he was inches away from falling off his broom, was the first one to react and Oliver soon followed with a"Holy shite, that's _huge_!" while Adrian and George kept staring at him in bewilderment.

"Well, I…" oh bugger, he really shouldn't have said anything, it was confusing enough even without his friends commenting on it. The was the possibility however, that they might actually be able to help him set his mind straight on how to proceed with all of this ".. It's just.. without her something's _off_ , and I was just thinking that... you know, that _maybe_ there's more to life than just sleeping around…"

More silence until-

"Blimey Fred, you're serious! You're _actually serious_!" The excitement was evident in his twin's face, and he couldn't help but to feel pleased with his brother's reaction. It was after all, the only one that really mattered to him.

"I don't understand…"

"Well, of course you don't." Lee retorted back to Adrian with a scorn " _You_ wouldn't know what love is even if it punched you in the face."

" _Git._ "

"Lads, now's not the time to talk about _Pucey's_ shitty love-life. Let's focus on what's important here - _Fred Weasley_ just admitted to have _feelings_ for Miss. Granger." Oliver ginned madly.

"About bloody time too.."

Fred turned his attention to George, completely dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"

To his utter surprise all of his friends fell silent again, sharing telling looks between each other as if they knew something he didn't.

"Well Fred, you see… we've sort of suspected it for quite some time now, that you like Hermione I mean." George admitted shrugging impishly.

"What? How- You _knew_? All of you?"

They looked more and more uncomfortable by the second. Had they'd been talking about him when he wasn't around? Was this a normal topic of conversation for them? He didn't know how he felt about that if that was the case.

"We never really discussed it, if that's what's bothering you. It had been years since I last spent any time with you lads, and after some time I just assumed that you had changed your ways since Hogwarts and that you and Granger had some sort of understanding. It wasn't until I mentioned it to George and Lee that I realised I was wrong."

Huh. Well, at least he felt a little better after Olivers confession.

"Yes, I figured you felt something more than just friendship with our favourite bookworm about four years ago, but I was beginning to think I was mistaken" Lee added sheepishly and Fred couldn't blame him for not saying anything really. Many others had over and over again presumed that the two of them was a couple, and over and over again had they denied it.

"Well I've known for about nine years already, and you can't tell me that I've been a bad brother for not telling you, I tried for a long time to trick you to tell me how you felt, remember? And then when I realised it wasn't working I decided to mercilessly tease and hint to you about it instead. You were just too oblivious to understand what I was saying."

Fred did remember all of that.

"I still don't understand how all of you could've known. I didn't realise it myself until yesterday..."

He turned his head to his left when he heard a dramatic sigh and saw Adrian hovering right next to him with a forlorn expression as he shook his head from side to side. "And here I thought you were the only sane one save for myself. Oh, well… it was a pleasure knowing you mate, you'll be missed. Or maybe not. Seriously, the 'Prankster' and the 'Bookworm', anyone else who find this to be ironic?"

"You're a prat, Pucey." he retorted and tried to punch his arm but missed as the curly blond darted away, laughing.

"And proud of it, thank you very much!"

"So what are you going to do now?" Lee asked casually, but he could see that all of his friends listened intently to what he would say and he frowned.

"I'm going to tell her when she gets back. I'm going to tell her that I want to be with her-"

" _Woohoo_ , Go Freddie." He ignored as the others started to comment and continued "-but that doesn't mean that I've changed my mind about _marriage_ or anything like that. I just want for us to be together."

"Well, that sounds romantic." The sarcasm was practically dripping from George as he rolled his eyes at his twin.

"You don't think that Hermione will want to get married someday?"

He turned to Oliver who'd been the one to ask the question and shrugged.

"I guess, but if she really loves me she will accept me for me, besides, it's not as if she's going to want to get married the moment she gets back."

He suddenly directed his broom downwards in a swift motion and straightened up again after just a moment, the Snitch in his hand.

"Yes, we _won_! Told you we'd catch up to you, Pucey! Losers pays for the firewhiskey."

George came up to him and squeezed his shoulder in a happy manner while alternating between punching the air and doing rude and childish gestures toward the others as they swore and steered their brooms down to the ground.

He'd talked with his friends and all of them, except perhaps for Adrian who didn't really care about the matter, had been supportive in his decision, the 'Weasley Whooshers' had won and he felt excellent.

If possible he was even more excied and anxious about her return and now nothing could stand in his way.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yes, Fred finally realised his feelings for Hermione! I know this chapter can seem a bit choppy but I tried really hard to convey how indecisive and insecure he was about this whole thing and I hope I got his point across. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this chapter!

 **Thank you so much for 100 followers, every single one of you means so much to me and I hope you'll love what's to come!**

Until next time!

Love

RuneDraconis1080


	13. Chapter 12

May 19th, 2008

 _Dear Fred,_

 _Guess what? After these exciting and challenging three months at the M.A.C.U.S.A, my work here at B.P.M.S (The Body for Protection of Magical Species) and the House Elf Unit is coming to an end a bit earlier than we had first expected with successful results - which is good news for you seeing as it means that I'll be coming back home soon!_

 _Oh, I cannot wait to see you again! It's been too long. I have so much to tell you, so many stories that I finally have the clearance to to share, and you won't believe all the new things I've learned! It's incredible!_

 _Tomorrow evening there's a small unofficial farewell party at the office hosted by my inspiring temporary boss, and the man without whom I never would've experienced any of this, Mr. Dunn. There I'll be able to say goodbye to my dear and some other friends that I've met during my time here. You if anyone knows how much it usually bothers me to be the center of attention on occasions like these (stop it, I know you're thinking that I was more than happy with all the attention I got concerning my academic achievements), but I'm humbly overwhelmed for the effort that everyone allegedly have put into making this happen, and I do think I'll enjoy myself greatly._

 _It's truly an extraordinary, but somewhat strange feeling to know that I, who had quite a bit of a difficult time getting people to want to spend any time with me growing up, now have friends that care so much about me on this side of the Atlantic, just as I care for them. Granted, my social skills have improved some since then, but still..._

 _Anyhow._

 _I'll spend the as much time necessary on Friday to clear out the flat that I've grown to really like, and if I by chance have any time left once I'm finished, which is probable since I'll just use a couple of spells to pack and clean most things, I think I'll just enjoy the city, visit my favourite shops and spots (definitely the bookshop 'Bibliobibuli and Epeolatry' that I've previously mentioned), walk around Central Park and maybe finally find a place that sell a reasonably good cup of tea (it certainly wouldn't surprise me if I did indeed found such a place on my last day here), then on Saturday I'll take the international portkey home!_

 _I must admit that it's a bit more difficult to leave than I had anticipated because I've had such a marvelous time here and there's a lot of things and people that I'm going to miss - somethings more than others -, but don't read into that as if I'm not looking forward to coming home. Of course I do! I'll be reunited with you and everyone back home that I've missed so much!_

 _Now, because of the long but necessary process of making sure all of my things are in order and can be sent off before me as I'm not allowed to leave anything behind when I go, I'm not sure exactly when I'll arrive in London. Whenever it may be, however, I firmly believe that your claim to take the whole day off from work just to wait for me to show up is completely unnecessary. No matter how flattered I am that you offered to sacrifice your day to wait around for me - although I can only assume after reading your letters and talking to you that you wouldn't mind all that much -, I insist you stay put for just a few hours longer. I expect for it to be an exhausting procedure even though the journey itself will be effortless thanks to the portkey, and because of that I'll probably be too tired when I arrive for a proper hello anyhow. You know how my temper can be when I'm tired, and as I really don't want our reunion after three months apart to turn into a full blown argument just because I'm easily ticked off, I'm going to spare you that experience and instead focus my energy on getting myself home as quickly as possible so that I can get to settle myself in again._

 _I therefore propose that we meet up for dinner at the flashy place 'Hawksmoor' on Air St. on Saturday evening. You know - the restaurant in the city that we've always talked about going to but for some reason never did, the one next to that 'Mr. Lasagna'-place that we hate that used to be that pizza place that we loved. I thought it might be a proper place for a meet-up after all this time. I have already reserved a table for us at 8 o'clock, so you better be there on time!_

 _I hope it's not an inconvenience for you as I'm quite aware of the difficulties of apparating in the middle of muggle London, but as you know it's not a terribly long walk from the Diagon Alley entrance in Leicester Square and I would really prefer to meet up in a place where the two of us aren't as easily recognizable, we'll have more privacy that way._

 _Merlin, I really do have so much to tell you that it feels like I'm about to explode at any second!_

 _See you in a few days!_

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

* * *

May 22nd, 2008

After what had turned out to be the most painfully slow days since he'd read Hermione's letter three days ago, Saturday was finally here and Merlin was he excited.

His self control had been tested all day trying to restrain from apparating to her flat and await her arrival but it had been extremely difficult, and to be honest George was probably the only reason that he hadn't given in.

On Wednesday, when his twin had spotted the gleeful expression on his own face after reading the letter telling him that she would be back earlier than he had expected, his brother had snatched it from his hands to read it for himself, teasing him mercilessly about his feelings for the brunette when no one else was around, before giving him a stern but calculating look that was scarily similar to that of Ginny or their mother when the females in their family had a wicked idea or conspire for something big. He himself hoped that expression would never grace his own features, he didn't fancy the idea of looking like his mother all too much.

Anyhow. George had been very clear that if Fred wanted to impress the lovely maiden, he should do as she asked and not be his normal self by invading her privacy after her homecoming. Instead he'd been ordered to keep himself distracted during the day while working at the shop, and though he was fairly certain that his twin did it mainly because he enjoyed to be able to boss him around more than usual (which greatly confused both Ron and Verity), he was sure that he had a point. Whenever he'd felt like leaving, George had been at his side in an instant reminding him that he would be able to see her in just a few hours, and kept pestering him about what he was planning to wear, told him that he could floo to his and Angie's house to go through his wardrobe if he couldn't get an outfit together from his own. What was he going to say to her? Would he just spurt it out the first thing he said to her or would he wait and see how the conversation went before he made his decision? Would he bring her flowers? Did he have any muggle money so he could pay for their meal like a proper gentleman? Would he introduce her as his girlfriend if she reciprocated his feelings? Urgh, it went on and on and more than once he'd tried his best to restrain himself from punching his holey brother in the face, which meant it had worked perfectly as a distraction as he'd focused more on his irritation towards George and the evening that was slowly approaching as the hours went by.

Many of the questions that was brought to attention by his twin, however, were things that Fred had not even thought about as he was more of a spontaneous person than a planner with most things - the only exception being their pranks and the shop, although he appreciated spontaneity there as well -, and he realised that he should probably be just a little more prepared for their reunion so that he wouldn't ruin things.

The bubbly excitement that coursed through his veins at the thought of seeing her again, as well as his imagination drifting toward the pleasure of his lips dancing against hers after his declaration, made it difficult for him to come up with a plan on how to approach the conversation though.

Finally his prison guard let him free with the orders to go and get ready for his date ("It's not a date, Forge", "Well, brother dearest. If all goes well, and I'm sure it will since the deluded little Miss. Granger adores your sorry arse, than I'm sure you can count this as the first of many, even though it's technically not an official date"), and he rushed upstairs to his flat with all his might.

Now he was walking down Coventry St. in one of his best muggle attires, a dark eggplant coloured suit, paired with a bright azure-blue shirt and matching shoes. He didn't wear a tie because he thought it was way to proper even for this occasion even though 'Hawksmoore' seemed to be a very posh restaurant, he refused to button his shirt all the way up, and although all of this was bordering a somewhat bland look in his own opinion, he was sure Mione would disagree. And quite a few people did turn their heads in his direction for one extra look, so…

He'd tried to smooth down his expressive ginger hair, but to no use as he kept running his hand through it, a gesture he'd only required in the last couple of months as a result of his frustrations. He hated anything that could give away his nervous state and while he'd not realised he was doing it at first, Ron of all people had been the one to point out this habit when he once again had managed to see through one of Fred's tricks because of it, much to the latter's frustration. He wondered if Hermione would notice.

Of course she would. Se noticed _everything_ about him.

Before he'd left his flat he'd taken a few moment just to stare at himself in the mirror and since his reflection looked just as handsome as ever he was filled with confidence, because even though this was possibly one of the biggest moments in his life, it involved his favourite person in the entire world and he was sure that everything would be ok.

In one of his hands he held a small but pretty bouquet of yellow roses and tiny white flowers that he'd bought for a tenner from a man pushing a flower cart on Leicester square, close to where the entrance connecting Diagon Alley to muggle London is located. Not the most romantic of flowers perhaps, but she'd never expressed a favourite kind in the past and she was very fond of the bright colour-changing ones he'd put in her office so he thought she wouldn't mind these. And he liked yellow, it was a very hopeful hue.

Thanks to a quick _"Reducio"_ he also carried with him another gift to give to her in his front pocket, sharing the space with his muggle money. Actually, it wasn't as much of a gift as a return, because he'd taken the book from her bookshelf the day he realised his feelings just before he'd went back to his own flat. It wasn't very often she talked about her days before Hogwarts, but he knew that this particular book had been her favourite growing up so when he saw the cover of Roald Dahl's 'Matilda', he'd reached out and grabbed it before he even knew what he was doing. He'd read it several times since then, which was surprising since he easily got bored, but he could understand why the young Mione had been so fascinated with the concept of magic, and later on related to Matilda in some ways after finding out she was a witch.

In this book that he brought with him, he'd scribbled down tiny notes and commentaries. Whether she would scream at him for destroying one of her possessions - a book no less - or appreciate his detailed comparisons he was a bit unsure, but nonetheless, if she would get mad she had two more editions of the book at home (he'd checked).

In the distance he could hear the loud chime of Big Ben announcing that it was now 8 o'clock, and with an irked sigh he tried to move faster through the crowd. It wasn't far now but he still couldn't believe that he was late, even if it was only by a few minutes. He'd anticipated this reunion for three months! He tried to put the blame on George for keeping him at the shop too long, but the reality was that he'd caused the delay himself by changing his outfit about seven times before heading out.

Finally Coventry St. divided into Regent St. and Piccadilly, and he continued forward on to the former one for a few feet until he reached Air St. and 'Hawksmoor'.

Up until that exact moment he'd been nothing but excited but suddenly the uncomfortable and rare feeling of nervousness flared up inside of him and he had to stop for a moment just to calm himself down.

 _Oh, stop it Fred, you're being pathetic! It's just Mione for Merlin's sake! Just because you realised while she was away that she's the most amazing woman in your life, and that you wish nothing else than to pursue a relationship with her, it doesn't mean that anything has to change. She knows you, you know her, now get a grip and go for it!_

For a second he glanced toward the Lasagna place next door, then shook himself and walked in.

He'd never been there before even though they'd talked about it many times. The restaurant was dimly lit and crowded with people trying to get a table, but he walked past them knowing she had already reserved one. While walking, his eyes danced over the tables trying to find the easily recognizable frizz of brunette hair and barely took any notice of how beautiful the place was with it's dark wooden floor, matching tables and columns, and chairs and booths clad in a hunter-green, leathery material. His blue shirt and shoes really clashed horribly with the green shade, but he didn't care.

Because there she was, sitting in one of the booths in the back.

She was staring in a slightly different direction and was therefore yet to notice him so he took this moment to just stare at her while his heart beat a steady rhythm in his ears.

She was _beautiful_.

She wriggled in her seat glancing around, wrung her hands nervously, and even as she gnawed on her bottom lip she looked absolutely stunning. She wore a somewhat darker, but still classy shade on her eyelids paired with a small eyeliner and mascara to frame her mesmerizing brown eyes that sparkled excitedly as the dim light of the room was reflected in them. The rest of her face was left untouched, leaving her natural skin to shine through, save from the incredibly soft-pink lip balm that was barely detectable when she finally released her bottom lip.

Just like he'd suspected her hair had been the thing that caught his attention first. It was hanging freely grazing her shoulders and back, and the lighting emphasized the frizziness even more than usual, making It look like a halo surrounding her head. Some of her curls were a tad more defined than he remembered them from before, as if she'd been playing with them and he got the sudden urge to pull at one of them, wrapping the curl around his finger. It would fit perfectly.

His gaze traveled down her form and he stopped for just a second at her clavicles, which were visible just above the bateau neckline of her simple but stunning pewter coloured dress. The fabric looked to be a bit more rough and sturdy than what she'd normally wear, but with it's short sleeves, shapely fit and a length which he guessed reached around the top of her knees (he couldn't be completely sure since she was sitting down and the table blocked his view), she looked so effortlessly stunning and sexy at the same time. Since she wasn't much for jewelry and her hair fell in a beautiful curly mess, she didn't look too intimidating and proper but he could imagine her with a tight bun at the nape of her neck and a large fancy necklace and she would immediately transform into a business woman. Or maybe if she had on that tight bun and a pair of glasses, then she'd look like a sexy librarian.

Oh, Merlin what was _wrong_ with him?

She turned her head and looked straight at him, her nervous demeanor disappeared in a flash and was replaced by the broadest and prettiest smile he'd even seen and he could feel his knees buckling as he swooned under her intense sparkling gaze.

Never before had a woman managed to induce such a reaction from him and he wondered briefly why on earth he'd been so desperate not to let himself feel this way _before_. Did he cause this reaction onto others? Did _she_ feel the same weakness when she looked at him? He hoped she did.

She gave him a small wave and he eagerly forced his body to move forward, but halfway though the movement he realised that his legs didn't do what he told them to and with a painful bounce he was suddenly no longer upright but instead on the floor facing the ceiling, the flowers in his hand completely broken and scattered all over him and his surroundings.

 _Smooth, Fred. Really smooth._

"Fred? Oh _Merlin_ , Fred are you okay?"

The perfect silhouette of his favourite bookworm came into view as she leaned over him with a worried expression on her face.

"Yes, I'm alright. My ego is wounded but other than that I think I'll survive… " He reached up and touched her face "Though - If I pretend to be dying would you give me a kiss to wake me up?" He had no idea how he could joke about it so casually while his insides screamed for her to lock her lips to his. She sighed in relief and he did notice how her cheeks darkened slightly even as she rolled her eyes at his cheekiness, then she smiled in at him and offered her hands to help him up from the floor.

Finally standing up facing her, he didn't care about the waiters cleaning up the mess he'd made around him, but he did mourn the beautiful bouquet that was way beyond saving.

"Did you bring me flowers?" Mione asked with a tone of surprise as she watched the remains of them be swept away.

"Yes, I thought you deserved something pretty for your return. I guess that's out the window now…" he grumbled, embarrassed that he'd actually fallen flat on his face the first thing he did after seeing her. He wasn't usually such a klutz, actually he moved with impressive ease for someone his height.

"I'm sure they were beautiful and I do appreciate the gesture."

He smiled at her and even though the feelings he'd repressed for so long had caused a storm of emotions inside him for the last week or so, nothing felt easier than being here with her, joking and being himself. He pulled her to him for a bone crushing hug, marveling at the feel of her body against his, breathing in her smell and never wanting to let go.

" _Welcome back, Mione!_ I've missed you so much!" The words were soft but it felt like he was shouting by the way his words carried so much weight.

" _Oh Fred_ , I've missed you too! It's _great_ to see you!"

Was it his imagination or did she squeeze him just as much as he did to her? It felt so heartfelt and her breath tickled his ear as she spoke to him, but a few moment later she let go. She didn't back away though, instead she analyzed his appearance closely with interested eyes, trying to detect any change in the last couple of months on his features. Could she possibly be seeing the love and adoration he held for her in his face?

"You don't look too different" she finally said with a sigh. "I half expected to find only a shell of the man I knew before by the way you and everyone else have been talking about your miserable existence while I was away. You actually look quite _decent. Happy_ even."

Oh, if she only knew. If she'd arrived two weeks ago that's probably the most accurate description of what she would've found, but now he was a completely different man to the one she knew from before. Of course, she didn't know why that was yet. He would tell her.

Any moment now he would tell her.

"Don't act so surprised! Of course I'm happy you're back. I must admit that I've not had the easiest of times this past months but that's all in the past now so why should I be remembered of such dark times?"

She seemed to be stunned by his exclamation and blinked a couple of times before she gave a small smile, though it didn't radiate with as much happiness as it had previously done, and he guessed she thought about everything she'd missed and he was grateful that she hadn't come home to that. How it would have hurt her to see what chasing her dream and happiness had affected him in such a negative and needy way.

Trying to diffuse the tension he laughed and directed her toward the booth where she'd been sitting earlier, "Come on, I may have destroyed the flowers but I still have something I want to give you."

She looked on curiously as he reached into his pocket to grab the miniature book and his wand, then he glanced around to see that no one was watching and when all was clear went a head and cast a quick _"Engorgio"_ to return the object to its original size before he finally handed it over to it's rightful owner.

"Matilda?"

"Yes." His answer was much more cryptic and sounded more confident than he really was and without knowing his hand flew up to his hair. She registered the action in confusion, then turned her eyes to the cover again, examining it more closely.

"Fred, this is _mine_. Why would you give me something that's already mine?"

"Because I took it while you were away and read it. Several times actually. And I just couldn't help but understand how much this book meant to you as well as find my own comparisons between Matilda and yourself. Now, I know you normally would jinx me if I was ever to do this otherwise, but I just couldn't help but write down everything that crossed my mind when I read it. This book reminded so much of you that it was almost like having a conversation with you while reading it."

He was rambling and he knew it. In fact, he knew this was a _stupid_ gift over all. She would curse him for scribbling in her book and then she would have him committed at St. Mungos for claiming to have conversations with a book.

He held his breath as she opened it and flipped through the pages, his sloppy handwriting forming words and sentences on just about every single one of them, and he prepared for his death.

"This-" Her gaze met his "this, is so _thoughtful_ of you, Fred."

"You think so?"

"Yes, really. First of all I'm amazed that you actually read it. I've been pestering you about it for years, and then for you to add your thoughts to it. I'm intrigued to read it. Thank you. It's _perfect_!"

Proud of that surprised success he almost told her his true feelings right there and then, but he felt that his mood had been all too tense for him to feel comfortable pouring his soul out, so he decided that he needed to calm down a bit before it was time.

"So, Mione. I think it's time that you tell me all about your American adventure!"

Immediately her expression became excited again and he casually flung his arm around her shoulder with a grin. She was so _pretty_.

"Oh, There's _so much_ to tell I can hardly wrap my mind around it!"

"Really? So much that even _you_ can't wrap your mind around it? This is going to be impossible for me then isn't it?" She stuck out her tongue as comeback to his teasing.

"No, but seriously Fred. Going to New York is one of the best things that's ever happened to me and I'm so happy right now I could burst at any moment! Work was incredibly inspiring, the city was amazing and most importantly-"

"Ah, there you are love!"

The deep voice of a man startled the pair of them for just a second before Hermione jumped up from her seat and it was as if his heart shattered into a million of pieces when he saw how her face lit up like a fire from within, the beautiful smile that instantly graced her face and how her eyes twinkled like she was looking at the sun. It took everything he had to force his muscles to face the stranger with the deep, clear voice that spoke just moments before.

The man, he noted, was tall, though not quite as tall as himself. He had kind, light brown eyes that were framed by thick dark lashes under unusually well groomed thick eyebrows. His nose was a bit crooked and pointy, and his mouth wider than normal - especially now as it was curved into a friendly smile -, but that suited him extremely well considering his attractive strong jaw and angular features. His hair reminded Fred of that Superman-character from the comics that Hermione had introduced to him a couple of years ago. It was a little bit on the longer side but styled in such a way that it looked proper enough just the same, only one strand escaping to fall onto his forehead creating the perfect picture.

He wore a simple black suit with a white shirt underneath, but the simplicity of it all showed of his impressive lean build.

Fred knew that he himself was handsome, but standing next to this man made him feel oddly insecure.

His eyes narrowed painfully as he noticed how Mione squeezed the man's hand in such a manner that it was obvious to him that this was someone special. Someone who she cared for deeply. The man in turn wrapped an arm around her, kissed her hastily on her lips, then turned to Fred with nothing but interest on his features.

He felt like he was going to throw up.

"Oh darling, I'm so sorry! I didn't realise that time had flown by so quickly. Here, I'm so happy to finally be able to introduce you two to one another! Warner - This is my _best friend_ in the entire world, Fred Weasley. Fred-" She turned to him with glowing eyes. "- _This is my love Warner Collins!_ "

The last thing he could remember was abruptly standing up from his seat before knocking into something or someone, then everything went black.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi everyone!

I'm sorry it's been more than a month since I updated this fanfic. but I struggled quite a bit to know how to write this part and the next. Just know that I've not abandoned this story even though I take my time to upload. I think about the story constantly and try my best to make it as airtight as possible, even if that means that I sometimes create characters and storylines that probably never will be mentioned, just so that it's cohesive.

Anyway. Here it is! Hermione is finally back and with Warner Collins in tow. I had several options as to what to call my version of Colin, but I finally settled for Warner Collins. His surname is of course a nod to the original character from the movie, even though my own version of him is going to be quite different from the OG, but it also worked perfectly for another reason which will be explained in a couple of chapters. His first name was far more difficult to decide on as I wanted something that sounded extremely American. Lyle, Duncan, Dalton and Logan as well as one other name were the ones I considered, and then I finally had to choose between Warner and the fifth name before I decided on Warner and gave the unknown name to another character that will be introduced later on.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I do appreciate all the love you're giving to this story with your favourites, follows and (especially) reviews. **Thank you so much!** I'm interested to hear, what do you think will happen next?

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	14. Chapter 13

May 23rd, 2008

"So? How did it go last night? I'm surprised you showed up here alone. She will be joining us for lunch, won't she?"

Fred leaned against the door frame in the living room of the Burrow, staring off into the distance and not paying any attention to everyone else running around the house, laughing and preparing for lunch. This was a regular routine on Sundays as a desperate attempt from his mother to keep all, or at least most, of her dear children close after the seven of them had moved out starting their own lives and families. He usually didn't mind. Today, however, instead of fulfilling his duties of being the funniest uncle and teach his nieces and nephews new tricks and other ways to irritate their parents, like telling or reenacting embarrassing and exciting stories from their parents past, his thoughts were completely occupied with the constant replay of the shocking turn of events from last night.

He really couldn't wrap his mind around it.

Warner Collins.

Urgh, just the mere thought of his stupid name sent a wave of jealousy, sadness and heartache throughout his whole body.

Where the frickity frick had he come from?!

Part of him wanted to be angry at Mione over the fact that she'd kept such an enormous secret from him. They were supposed to be best friends and never before had something like this come between them. Sure, they had been on different sides of the earth and hadn't exactly had too much time over the last three months to communicate but she could've at least have mentioned it in one of her letters or their brief conversations.

 _"Oh, and by the way! I'm dating now"_ or _"Hey, before I go, I met this guy and I like him, like a lot."_

Knowing her he knew that she'd probably wouldn't have been as blunt with her words but all the same, would that really have been too hard?

The larger part of him, though, was more upset with himself than anything else. Actually, upset didn't really cut it - bloody pissed was a more accurate description. He was well aware of the fact that the realisation of his true feelings toward his favourite witch had arguably occurred at an bad time, and he had already beaten himself up because of it even before her return, but at least then he'd lived with the hope and almost, dared he say, expectation that she would reciprocate his feelings.

How utterly mistaken he'd been.

The result of his own blindness and narcissism was now staring him in the face, mocking him. He'd lost her without even being given the chance to actually have her.

He wished with all his might that he'd imagined the whole thing, that he was stuck in a nightmare and would wake up at any moment. That maybe yesterday hadn't happened at all.

Allas, that unfortunately wasn't the case.

He was awake alright. In fact, reality had spent the entirety of last night mentally slapping him in his face.

Come to think of that he actually felt a bit sore, which wasn't really a surprise considering the fact that he'd hit the floor quite hard yesterday not just once but twice, but for now it was his right arm especially that was bothering him quite a bit. A moment later he realised the cause for that was because someone was nudging it firmly.

"Fred? Freddie? Earth to Fred! Seriously mate, don't make me go all full name on you."

"What?"

Even with his mood so dampened by everything he still hadn't meant to snap and the hurtful look on George's face instantly made him feel even worse, if that was even possible.

"Sorry," he muttered before turning his head to stare into the distance in self loathing.

"Hey, are you okay? I've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes."

"Sorry," he repeated again and tried to smile, though he was sure his twin would see right through his grimace. "You were saying?"

"I asked how it went last night? To be honest this is not the expression I expected to see on your face today, I thought I'd find you with a dopey smile on your face and a lovely lady in tow. Is Hermione not coming to lunch? Too bad, I wanted to see her and wish her good luck! If she's in a relationship with you she's definitely gonna need it. "

Even though he spoke with a hushed voice it was obvious that George believed without a single shred of doubt that last night had been a success and the faith his brother had in him was touching, but it also reminded him of his own egotistical tendencies. He was such an arse. It would've been incredible if that had been the case, if Hermione had been there with his own arm wrapped around her waist.

"Fred?"

He didn't have too see his twin to know that George finally had realised that something was off. A second of silence followed by a sharp intake of breath, then-

"She _rejected_ you?! No, that's not _possible_!"

The volume in which his holey brother said it was just a little louder than their previous low exchange and Fred looked around nervously to see if anyone had reacted to this exclamation before turning to his twin again, displeased.

"Wow, thank you for being so delicate brother."

"Sorry…" at least he had the decency to look embarrassed, though it was almost overshadowed by poorly disguised disbelief. "Seriously though, what happened?"

He didn't feel like this was the best time to tell the whole story of what had happened the previous evening but since George was one of the few who knew his secret and the only one who would completely understand the state he was actually in, he decided to just get it over with.

"Yes, she's coming to lunch. No, she didn't reject me. Seeing that I didn't even got to _telling_ her how I feel she didn't get the opportunity to _say_ anything about it."

"You didn't tell her?! Why not?"

Just as he opened his mouth to answer he was interrupted by several loud voices coming from the kitchen. Among them he could hear the joyful sound of Mione's laugh and the deep baritone he was already too familiar with.

George didn't react to the new, odd addition at first but a few moments later a mixed look of confusion and surprise was apparent in his features and he looked at him with raised eyebrows for an explanation. Fred just shook his head miserably in his direction, silently communicating to him to act as normal as possible and not mention anything as their mother announced that lunch was ready and they moved to join the rest of the family.

He would understand everything soon enough.

* * *

Since it was now summer they were able to set up the tables outside for these gatherings without any difficulties, which was a great relief for everyone. During the cold winter months they had to be more creative as the kitchen was just a smidge too crowded to fit everyone even with the extension spell that his father had put in a couple of years ago when the number of grandkids grew in numbers. With the grand total of 24 Weasleys and Potters, including both Hermione and Teddy of course, and 25 when Charlie was home, it was really a wonder that they succeeded to find a place to sit for everyone. Now the sun was up high in the blue sky, the trees filled with thick layers of leaves and the field surrounding the country home was filled with blossoming flowers in various of colours. The older cousins were running around playing together with most of the younger ones in tow trying to keep up, and patient parents doing their best to pile them up and have them sit down at the kids table where they proceeded to hand out the food the kids wanted.

When everyone were finally seated and had managed to get what they wanted from his mother's delicious food onto their plates, the attention immediately settled on Hermione and the mystery man she'd brought with her.

"So, tell us Warner. How exactly did you meet our Hermione?"

"Yes, we want to know everything!"

"Did you work together?"

"I thought they didn't allow relationships in the same departments at M.A.C.U.S.A? Or did that not apply to you since you don't actually work there?"

"For how long has this been going on?"

Questions were flying from everywhere barely giving the two a chance to answer before the next one came, all while Fred sat with a forced smile, half resisting the urge to sneak up to his old bedroom to see if he could find a 'Puking Pastille' or a 'Fever Fudge' under the floorboards to fake being ill and get away from there, half considering to look for one just to give to Mr. Perfect and see his reaction. Honestly, the only reason he managed to resist was because he knew that it would upset Mione. Although it felt as if she wouldn't care if he was there or not, her attention was mainly focused on the object of her affection. Bloody Warner Collins. Just like yesterday the two were seated too close for his own liking, arms touching and smiling sickly sweet while gazing adoringly into each others eyes.

"Well," Hermione started, "We didn't work together. I'd seen him around the corridors a couple of times but we didn't talk or anything and I had no idea who he was until about a month after I got to New York when I arrived at work one day and this unpleasant witch called Diaspro Bibbler, which I'd had several disagreements with before for different reasons, suddenly appeared in front of me, yelling at the top of her lungs. To he honest I didn't even understand what she was saying at first because of the shock of having her red face inches away from mine but it didn't take me long to realise that she was accusing me of giving out classified information about their government to ours. Knowing me you know that this of course was a ridiculous accusation and I tried to calmly tell her that she was mistaken, but she continued to scream and I admit I was getting quite agitated because I had a late night of work the day before and I was running late for an important meeting with the team and Fermin Dunn, the director of 'The Body for Protection of Magical Species'. So there I was, getting more and more frustrated as this awful woman screamed at me about how she would make sure I'd never be able to set my foot down in the headquarters again and that I would end up in prison for my actions, when out of nowhere Warner came up to us and asked me if I was in need of assistance."

"It wasn't the first time I saw or heard Bibbler explode like that, accusing people of treason, so when I noticed the turbulence and and saw the lady here in distress I just had to step in. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Anyway, I told him that I was wrongfully accused of using two-way mirrors to communicate M.A.C.U.S.A secrets to our government and thankfully he believed me. He managed to send her away, though under much protests from her I must admit, and I was able to hurry to my meeting after some words of gratitude to my saviour."

Fred resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Surely Hermione would've been more than capable to deal with the situation herself without a man coming to her rescue like some bloody prince on a white steed.

"Oh, I suspected that you were innocent when I heard the shouting but when you mentioned the two-way mirrors I knew it without a shadow of doubt. It's a classic tale for Diaspro Bibbler to use against people she dislikes. I'm sure you would've been able to stand your own ground against her but I was more than happy to help. What was it she called you? A sneaky-treacherous-warthog-faced-imposter?"

"A sneaky-treacherous-warthog-faced- _British_ - _charlatan_ who should go back to where I came from."

"I'm sure you weren't expecting such rudeness directed toward yourself and I just needed you to know that not all Americans, New Yorkers especially, have that attitude toward others."

Since he had heard the same story the night before, he avoided watching the exchange of affection between the two as much as possible while they explained how their relationship had come to be. Instead his eyes searched the faces of his family members, trying to decipher their impression as they listened, interested.

Disappointingly for him genuine happiness for the couple seemed to be the overall emotion from most as far as he could tell, and it wasn't difficult to understand why. Though he himself simply couldn't even try to reconsider his feelings toward the man who was currently holding Mione's hands in his own, stroking them gently with large fingers while conversing with the members of his family, everyone else seemed to fall for his charm. He noticed how some of the females around glanced at each other approvingly and Natalie and Ginny especially seemed to consider Warners looks pleasing to the eye.

Only a few of them were more reserved toward the newcomer.

Harry was sitting a couple of seats down with a neutral expression on his face as he observed the two, listening and asking questions at the right moments. Hag he not know with absolute certainty that he himself previous to this lunch was the only one who'd known about the whole thing, he would've almost assumed that Harry knew too by the way he was acting. He wasn't as surprised as the others but Fred understood what a shock it must be for him to see just how strong the feelings displayed were but handled his confusion much more gracefully than he himself had done the night before.

Ron, who was stuffing his face, though more silently than he otherwise would've, seemed somewhat less interested in what was going on. Whilst occasionally glancing in Natalie's direction whenever she made approving noises and encouraging gestures when Warner spoke, he's attention was instead mainly focused on Harry and his reaction to it all, possibly as a way for him to decide how he should react himself.

George, who was seated right next to himself, tried his best to act like normal by sneaking in some lame jokes and comments here and there but was rather quiet otherwise. He could feel his twin brothers eyes on him though, judging his reactions and trying to figure out how to handle it, just like Ron was with Harry.

Surprisingly he also noticed Percy doing the same, trying to catch his eyes in confusion and looking almost offended by Warners surprise appearance.

"After that we had some brief conversations in the hallway and when we later attended the same dinner party with most of the top department directors and other important people as well as President Peony Moncrieffe herself, we had a lovely time dancing and talking all night during which Warner asked me out. We had our first date two days later and he took me to this fancy modern restaurant where he proceeded to buy me the most awful dinner I've ever had."

Warner scoffed embarrassed and nodded his head in agreement "Yeah, It was pretty bad, even by New York- standards."

Hermione and the others laughed with him and he saw how she squeezed his hand fondly.

"Then we just spent the rest of the time traveling around New York when we weren't working, getting to know each other, visiting museums and other famous sights.

We saw a one of the world most famous muggle musicals together at Broadway, went to the famous town of Sleepy Hollow, you know, one of the most haunted places in the world. Warner also showed me the old headquarters for the Obliviators that was located inside of the Lady of Liberty. It was… Perfect"

Her words were echoed by Warner before he captured her lips in a sweet but intense kiss and while the rest of the family snickered, Fred felt himself gagging.

He couldn't help but to compare this to when when Harry and Ginny finally got together again after the war had ended. It had been extremely difficult for any of the Weasley brothers to witness any kind of affection between the two without either trying desperately to resist the urge to murder the Boy Who Lived for touching their dearest little sister or considering to obliviate themselves to forget they ever saw anything, and though this was a completely different thing the same feeling of nausea came over him when Hermione and Warner touched. Which was _all the time._

How was it possible that the witch he cared for so much had changed so much over so little time? Every time she looked at Warner it sent a sharp pain through his heart when he saw the love and devotion in her eyes and his only wish was to see that same look in her beautiful brown eyes when she looked at him.

It was hypocritical of him to dispute the change that had occured in her over these three months when it looked as if his own affections had changed just as much if not more in that time, but it wasn't really the same. He was certain that he'd felt this way for a number of years now, but it wasn't until she left that he actually came to that realisation. He wondered. for a second how she would've reacted if he had indeed told her how he felt. Would she have believed him? He would never know.

"So what do you do then, Warner?" Bill asked interested while absentmindedly pouring himself another glass of Butterbeer.

"I work as a Obliviator for the 'Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation'. My family on my father's side have all been Obliviators for generations so it was only natural for me to follow in their footsteps. My father is the director of the department and my ambition is to take over his position once it's time for him to retire, but for now my main function is to take on the more difficult cases, high profile no-maj's that have a large amount of people surrounding them at all times like politicians, or people who would use the information to case trouble for the magical communities in America."

Percy, who still looked a bit weary of Warner, perked up a bit when the conversation steered into government work and engaged himself more in the exchange, trying to understand and compare as much as possible between the two Ministries.

"Fascinating, and exactly how many…"

Fred tuned out the sound as more people started to ask questions about Warner, his work and America in general. It felt by far like the longest Sunday lunch he'd ever experienced and he didn't understand why they were dragging it all out. Finally the plates seemed to have emptied and only a small amount of food was leftover, even after his mother had insisted that they all should have a second and third helping.

Now would be the perfect time for him to leave.

Hermione caught his eye and smiled brilliantly in his direction and he tried his best to smile back, though it was stiff and unnatural. He feared his face would get stuck with that same expression seeing how often it had appeared over the last 18 hours and he seemed to be unable to change it. With the painful lie on on his features he knew that no matter how much it hurt him he had to stay and wait as the torturous seconds ticked on.

He counted them.

"Well, I must say Hermione that it would seem like you were a lot busier in New York than we thought. You didn't mention anything in your letters!"

She turned toward Ron with a apologetic smile and her cheeks darkened slightly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything before. It was really difficult for me not to mention anything but I didn't know where this relationship was going." She looked down at her and Warners entwined hands. "All I knew was that I was falling in love fast with a man living on the other side on earth, thousands of miles away from my home." Eye eyes scanned the table as everyone suddenly had gone very still.

No one had expected for her to say that she loved him. Sure, they could see it in the way they acted around each other that something special was going on but this sudden exclamation of endearment took them by surprise.

"So instead I decided to spend as much time as possible with him while I was there and let that be it, a short romance and fond memories to look back on, but it became harder and harder to say goodbye."

She shared a look with with Warner that spoke volumes and Fred could do nothing else but to hold his breath.

"On Thursday, Mr. Dunn had organized a farewell party for Hermione to honor and thank her for her help during the past few months and though I'm sure he tried his best to lighten the mood as much as possible, it was difficult for everyone to think that this would be the last time they saw each other. Her adores her and were all inspired by her work. When it was time for Hermione to leave, I just-"

His lungs were screaming.

"-I don't know, I just… couldn't let her go."

His head was spinning.

"So I got down on one knee-"

This was it.

"-He proposed! And I said "Yes"!"

A collective sound of shock and excitement echoed in the trees as everyone in his family shouted their surprise, then chairs were flying as most everyone got up from their seat and hurried toward the couple.

His mother was there first, squeezing the two until they turned a slight purple hue all while sniffing hysterically and repeated "I'm so happy for you! Oh, Hermione! Oh, my sweet, sweet girl," over and over again. Ginny was a close second, moving faster than he'd ever seen a pregnant woman move before. She too was in tears, but he hoped that it was mostly due to all of the hormones.

After that all of the adults took their turn to hug them and shake their hands while offering their congratulations, some with the surprise barely concealed, and all of the women crying happily.

The exchange between the golden trio was the hardest one to watch.

Ron approached them and stood for just a moment, staring between the two before he flew toward Hermione, hugging her tightly and rocking back and forth. He noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks as she returned it before they finally let go and turned to Harry.

At first Harry wasn't looking at her, instead his eyes were locked with Warner's with a serious expression. "She's special you know. If you treat her any less than she deserves all of us standing here, plus many others will come for you. And we've defeated much scarier things than you." He let his threat hang in the air for a second before grinning broadly and stretched out his hand for a firm, but warm handshake. This time it was Hermione who threw herself in his arms, scolding him for threatening her fiancé, then laughing happily.

Fred stood a bit further back, still with that stiff, unnatural smile attached on his face as everyone celebrated the news whilst he himself was dying on the inside.

He couldn't understand why he was disappointed and felt so betrayed. Had he really hoped that his family - the very same people who loved Hermione like she was one of them -, would react any differently?

Had he expected for everyone to protest, say that she wasn't acting like herself and maybe even hint that they had indeed hoped for a union between her and himself?

They didn't even know the lad, and yet he was accepted into the family almost immediately. Maybe no one had ever even thought of the tiniest possibility that Hermione might would become an official Weasley one day. Maybe that thought had died as quickly as it had surfaced when she and Ron broke up all those years ago. Well, it certainly wasn't a completely ridiculous idea. He knew that there was at least some people who had played with the thought of the two of them together in the past. His friends had confessed as much when he told them of his feelings toward the brunette. George had hinted at it for years, and the last person was surprisingly enough Percy, who had in fact insisted that a secret relationship was already established between them.

Now Percy was busy taking care of Molly II that was crying tiredly in the middle of the whole commotion, but he saw that he glanced in his direction a couple of times in confusion.

He felt a presence by his side and sighed heavily.

"Bloody hell, Fred. I could never have guessed… How are you doing mate?"

He needn't answer him, George just put a hand on his shoulder in comfort. It was such a relief to have someone who truly understood exactly how he felt right now that he almost burst into tears from exhaustion after the roller-coaster of emotions that he'd experienced since last night. They just stood there together, watching the engaged couple laugh and cheer with their family.

She was engaged to be married with another man, and that was just the tip of the ice-berg.

* * *

 **A/N:** Happy 2019 everyone!

I hope everyone's had a great year so far, I myself am tired of winter and want spring to come here as soon as possible!

So, Hermione's engaged! I'm well aware that this might seem a bit OOC for her and I absolutely respect that, however I have and will always try to make her and all the other characters involved in this story as close to the original from the books (and on some occasions the movies) without compromising my plot. As you can tell, I decided for them to reveal the engagement in a scen with not only Fred, Hermione and Warner, but the whole Weasley- and Potter clan because I felt it would move the story forward a bit quicker to have everyone there, but don't worry - we will definitely return to the restaurant where we left off in the previous chapter. I hope this won't be a problem for everyone to understand the timeline, I'll do my best to be as clear as possible!

I just have to say that I've received some comments about my spelling and especially my grammar, and I just want to adress that I'm _extremely thankful_ to anyone who's willing to point out any mistakes, however, I would greatly appreciate it if this could be done in a constructive way. If you don't like the story your really don't have to continue to read it. I've never mentioned it before but I guess most of you can tell that English isn't my native language. I try my best and find that writing helps me to improve a lot. When I have the time I'll revisit all my previous chapters to correct my grammar mistakes and reformulate any passages to make this story even better and more refined.

That being said, I'm so thankful to everyone who reads this story, whether you just found it or have been here from the start and continues to read when I post a new chapter. You're amazing every single one of you and every favourite, follow and review I get keeps me motivated! **Thank you!**

Next chapter will be up soon (I promise)!

Love,

 _RuneDraconis1080_


	15. Chapter 14

_May 22nd, 2008 - Flashback_

 _He stared at the enormous engagement ring on her finger, the diamond in the center almost blinding him as it sparkled brightly even in the dim lights and his mind was spinning as he tried and failed to grasp the information that was staring him in the face._

Engaged _._

 _Hermione was engaged._

 _No this couldn't possibly be. There was no way that the skeptical romantic that was Hermione Granger could be engaged to be married to a man she just met less than three months ago. Hermione, who rolled her eyes whenever someone mentioned that she should get herself a husband. Hermione, who strongly believed that love and trust was something you build up over time and was quick to judge others, Ickle Ronniekins for example, who entered relationships too soon and for the wrong reasons._

 _But here she was, cuddled up close to this stranger that Fred hadn't even knew existed until about thirty minutes ago, with an excited expression as she waved her left hand in front of his face._

 _From the very moment she'd introduced this man, this Warner Collins, everything had turned out a complete disaster. His manners had momentary disappeared with the interruption of the deep voice and the man belonging to it, and the second it came back he'd knocked into one of the waiters when he rose from his seat just a bit to abruptly to shake this stranger's hand, resulting with another fall to the floor. This time so hard that he blacked out for a few seconds. When he came around he'd once again seen her angel face hovering above him with an anxious expression, only now it had been joined by the angular features present in the stranger, Warner Collins, face as he too looked down at him in worry. The humiliation was heightened as most of the food that had originally been on the tray the waiter had carried was now smeared all over his dark eggplant suit and azure shirt and the waiter had glared daggers in his direction since._

 _Because he didn't dare the risk of any muggles see him use magic to fix his appearance, he'd been forced to sit opposite the two listening to the most absurd story about how they'd met and fallen in love during the last six weeks or so, completely covered in food stains, though he did succeed to wipe away the worst with a couple of napkins._

 _In his confusion and desperation over this unpredictable turn of events, he'd somehow adapted this overly excited and enthusiastic persona while trying his best to understand what was going on. Trying to act natural he'd put on a fake smile and laughed lightly whenever there was a slight pause in their story, and his eyes flickered rapidly between the two in disbelief. It actually felt as if his eyes would pop out of their sockets as tension kept building up the longer he stared at the unbelievably affectionate exchange opposite him._

 _Act natural. Laugh._

 _Hah,_ of course _Warner was the one that came to her rescue and was able to avoid a huge commotion when that Babbler-woman had screamed at her._

 _Laugh. Act natural._

 _Nod your head vigorously to show that yes, you can actually believe that Warner is a high profile Obliviator, the very same she mentioned in one of her letters._

 _Act natural. Laugh._

 _Wow, it is incredible that Warner filled her entire office with one thousand white roses for every time he thought of her when he was away for two days. Truly incredible._

 _After a short while he'd decided that it was a glorious idea to play game to take a huge sip of wine every time the Superman look-alike looked at her with the same affection that he himself so desperately wanted to show._

 _Another sip. And another one. And another one. And another one. Oh, and another one. Thankfully their story wasn't interrupted with too many kisses, though even one was more than enough for Fred to almost lose control._

 _It was ridiculous really how many things the two of them supposedly had experienced together in the small period of six weeks that they'd known each other. All the information was too much and he started to feel a headache coming up as as he tried to process it all, and on top of all that she was now telling him that she was engaged._

 _"Wow… That's just… Huge, it's-"_

 _"I know, I can hardly believe it myself!" Hermione leaned over the table and grabbed his hand and he wondered if it was as icy cold as he felt on the inside. "After Warner proposed on Thursday we spend almost the entirety of yesterday discussing the whole thing so the wedding is coming together very quickly-"_

 _Sure sounds like it._

 _"-We're going to get married in New York at Warner's parents summer house on Long Island."_

 _For once Warner was able to tear his eyes away from her face for more than one second as he instead focused completely on Fred with the same innocent enthusiasm as she had._ _"It's going to be a pretty small thing, we can't expect too many people to arrange to take time off work and get an international portkey in just about a month."_

 _"One month?"_ What? _No, there was no way he could have heard that right. Maybe it was just difficult for him to understand his american accent._

 _"That's right. On the 19th to be to be exact."_

No! _It was impossible to imagine that Mione would actually agree to a wedding so soon after their engagement. Or so soon after the two of them met. The 19th was- "-That's three weeks from now!"_

 _Not only was she getting married, but in less than one month non the less! While he himself had never seriously fancied the idea of sharing his life with only one person for the rest of his life before, and the though of marriage didn't go quite well with him in general, he was well aware that most people didn't share his opinion in the matter. The subject had risen several times over the years between himself and Mione as there had been nine of them involving his siblings (thought Ron had eloped with wife number three, so there technically hadn't been a wedding to attend), and that was not counting all of his friends getting married. He'd enjoyed to argue with her about it, the formality of it, the expenses, whether or not it was worth to force everyone to sit through a boring ceremony. Bottom line was that he definitely considered weddings to be a complete waste of time, and she knew it, which is why she smiled gently at him as she understood that this was quite shocking news for him to hear._

 _"I know it sounds absolutely insane, Fred, and I'm sure you're wondering what the rush is all about. The simple reason is because we love each other and want to make it official, but that's difficult with us living in two different countries. Truth be told the main reason why so soon is because the legal documentations I have that allows me to work at M.A.C.U.S.A without being an american citizen is still eligible until May 31st, and it's so much easier for us to get a marriage licence that's legal between out two governments before then since I'm already in the system. We sent in the request yesterday and we expect to get the acceptance early this coming week. After that we only have thirty days to get married before it expires, otherwise we have to wait a year until we can apply for another one. With those as our only options we both agreed that there was no point to wait."_

 _Agreed to disagree. There's_ so many _reasons why waiting is a tremendous idea. First of all - you barely know the guy! Secondly - you just met him, and thirdly - Please, I don't_ want _you to. The list goes on._

 _However, instead of voicing any of his protests loudly, he just nodded with jerky movements and eyes bulging as if his mind tried to make more space in his skull the more information it tried to unravel._ _He felt like room was getting warmer by the second and tried to cool himself by drowning down more of his wine, when that really just made things even worse._

 _"Have you ever thought about visiting New York before, Fred? Hermione has mentioned to me many times that you probably would like it there."_

 _Urgh. It bothered him so much that Warner acted so friendly and interested, without any consideration to the storm of emotions that was currently going on inside him. The American had his arm wrapped around her waist, hugging her closely to him only to occasionally let his hand go to her hair to wrap the curls around his fingers, just like Fred had imagined to do himself a mere hour ago. With a pang he realised it explained why her curls looked more defined than he remembered._

 _Oh, right, Mr. Perfect had asked a question._

 _"You know, I haven't." He wondered if he came of as rude with his clipped answer. It certainly felt that way even though he was trying his best not to, but it seemed like he got away with it as the two was completely engulfed in their little bubble of love. Even if Warner had indeed picked up on the attitude, he at least had the decency to ignore it._

 _"If we have the time I would gladly like to show you around when you come for the wedding."_

 _"Ah."_

 _More wine._

 _He really couldn't say anything other than strangled short one-syllable sound that escaped him. The kind grin that graced Warner's broad lips seemed genuine which was even worse and he didn't even have to try to make Fred look like a benighted idiot in front of the pretty witch that looked between the two men with a beaming smile._

 _"Oh, Fred, just wait until you see the beautiful garden where the ceremony will take place. The Collins summer house is truly spectacular in itself and I'm sure it will be absolutely fantastic!"_

 _"Definitely," Warner agreed, smiling down excitedly at her, his light brown eyes locked at her face again as if it was his only source of life, "And I'll make sure the guests will have plenty of entertainment to keep them occupied before the big day once they arrive. There's so many interesting sights to see in the area, and I promise to give anyone who wants a tour of the distillery just a short walk away."_

 _"Distillery?"_

 _Seriously? A distillery?_

 _"Warner's cousin Austin Pinnock owns the largest and oldest brand of Giggle Water in all of America and Warner is a board member of the company. I'm sure your brothers would love to see the place, and I can guarantee you'll like the taste of it!"_

 _"It's just a hobby of mine, really."_

 _Well, of course it bloody well is. It was impossible really to imagine that men like that actually existed in real life. To sum it up; He's next in line to be the director of the Obliviators (or whatever his department was called) after his father, his family owns the largest brand of alcoholic beverages in all of America and he's handsome, sophisticated and most of all rich. Had it not been for the fact that he knew Hermione didn't care for materialistic things, he would almost have assumed that she married for the money and that the dapper lad that came with it was just a nice perk._

 _"Fred."_

 _"Hm?"_

 _The corners of her lips were curved into a nervous smile as she gazed into his eyes more seriously than before. He'd seen that same look many a times in the past whenever she wanted to ask a favor but didn't know how._

 _"Look, if you were getting married I know that I wouldn't be your first choice to be the Best Man,_ _but_ _… over the last nine years you've grown to become one of my very best friends and under the circumstances there's no one else I would want by my side through all of this. What I'm trying to say is - Fred, will you be my Maid of Honor?"_

* * *

May 23rd, 2008

"Did you really just say that she asked you to be her 'Maid of Honor'?"

He glared at his twin who sat next to him on the couch, trying his best to silence his chuckles with one hand. George had insisted to come back to his flat with him after the eventfull lunch, demanding to hear the whole story. So, now they were here in Fred's living room, an open bottle of Firewhiskey on the coffee table. He had just told his twin everything that had happened at the restaurant the night before and had hoped for a more comforting reaction than this so in his irritation he grabbed one of the decorative pillows and chucked it right at George's face in order to make his idiot brother understand that this definitely wasn't a laughing matter.

Of course, George knew just how he felt about the whole thing but apparently that didn't stop him from was acting like a bloody wanker at the moment.

"George!"

"Alright, fine! Fine... I don't understand it though… You're a guy! Shouldn't the Maid of Honor be, you know - a maiden?"

"That's the way it usually is, yes…"

"Well then I would've assumed that Ginny if anyone would be the one to fill that part."

"I thought the same thing, but when I mentioned it to Mione yesterday she reminded me of the fact that our dear sister is seven months pregnant, eight by the time the wedding will take place. Had the circumstances been different she most likely would've asked Ginny but since she'll barely be allowed to travel to New York to attend there's no way she'd be able to plan the bloody thing… I'm guessing she'll insist go be in the wedding party though, if little Frederika doesn't make an early appearance."

"What about Harry then? Or Ron?"

He scoffed at the suggestion. Yes, he agreed that Harry probably was a good option for the job, but the mere thought of youngest Weasley brother trying to organize the whole thing was laughable. " _Ron_? Do you honestly believe that Mione would let ickle Ronniekins to help plan her wedding? They would argue about everything. Yes, they're friends and all, but they both have a mutual understanding to keep most of their conversations light and sophisticated in order to avoid disagreements and they try not to interfere with each others love lives too much, which, by the way, is the reason why neither she or Harry have pushed the conversation as to why our dear brother insists on marrying every girl he sees instead of dealing with the aftermath of his divorce from Mandy..."

George nodded absentmindedly as he considered this.

"Yes, you're right. But what about Harry? They're best friends. She spends almost as much time with him as with you and were friends way before the two of you became inseparable. Plus they went through the whole Voldy-thing together. I'm by no means trying to undermine the strong bond between the two of you but you know what I mean. He's like her little brother."

"To be honest I think she probably considered to ask him had it not been for the fact that she knows he'll be busy taking care of Ginny and the boys. I think she said he would be involved somehow still, nothing major though. Bottom line is that it doesn't matter because with all the other options unavailable she decided to ask _me_."

His twin noticed the bitterness in his voice and patted him sympathetically on his shoulder, though the corners of his mouth twitched suspiciously.

Why was the whole universe against him?

"So what did you say? Did you say 'Yes'?"

"No!"

"No?!"

"I don't know, I didn't know what to say so I told her I'd think about it…"

"What you need to think about is whether or not the dress is going to make your shapely hiney look huge!"

He took several deep breaths as George was unable to stop his booming laugh from bouncing of the walls this time. In order to have something to do he poured himself another glass of Firewhiskey and concentrated on silently counting up different curses and jinxes that would be effective against his twin to get back at him for making fun of the situation.

"Urgh, just get it out of your system."

 _1\. Jellyleg-Jinx_

 _2\. Bat-Bogey Hex_

 _3\. Anteoculatia_

 _4\. Toenail-growing Hex_

 _5\. Oppugno_

 _..._

It took almost four whole minutes and he counted a number of 34 different spells before George calmed down enough for them to be able continue the discussion.

"Are you done?"

"Think so."

"Great. Urgh, I don't understand! I had a plan! How is it that Mione not only met someone during the three months that she was away, but comes home and is engaged to be married! Had it been literally anyone else I think I could've wrapped my mind around the absurdity of it but it's _Hermione Granger_ we're talking about! She never does anything spontaneously or rashly! She's the most organized and put together person I know."

"Well, she did decide to go work with M.A.C.U.S.A in just a couple of days…"

"But they'd asked her to come for years! It took her _years_ to decide to go, the process was just very quick once she actually said yes!"

"...And remember when Ron complained that she had birds attack him back in their sixth year?"

"That doesn't count. Ron probably deserved it. Also - again - she had a crush on him for years and never acted on it!"

"... She tricked Umbridge to go into the Forbidden Forest…"

"George, you're completely missing my point here! Mione is the most calculating witch I've ever met and it just feels so wrong to think that she completely ignored her core values for some guy she just met."

Finally after so many hours of bottling up his feelings he was able to let it all of his frustrations out. Every single thought that had crossed his mind, every emotion, everything. Grabbing his Beater's bat that was peeking out from under the sofa, he started to swing it back and forth hitting the pillows and other decorations just to have something to do. It was bizarre to think that it was only ten days ago he realised just how much of a blind idiot he'd been, not understanding, or rather not _wanting_ to understand and deal with the feelings that the frizzy brunette had inflicted in him for a long, long time. Even after his realisation if was extremely difficult to adjust to the thought and he remembered the conversation that had occured when the truth of his affection slipped out to his friends during that quidditch match.

 _"I'm going to tell her when she gets back. I'm going to tell her that I want to be with her-"_

 _"Woohoo, Go Freddie!"_

 _"-but that doesn't mean that I've changed my mind about marriage or anything like that. I just want for us to be together."_

 _"Well, that sounds romantic." The sarcasm was practically dripping from George as he rolled his eyes at his twin._

 _"You don't think that Mione will want to get married someday?"_

 _He turned to Oliver who'd been the one to ask the question and shrugged._

 _"I guess, but if she really loves me she will accept me for me, besides, it's not as if she's going to want to get married the moment she gets back."_

Oh, the bitter irony.

"Warner Bloody Collins! She gives it all up for _Warner. Bloody. Collins_!" With every word he put more force into the swings.

" _Wingardium Leviosa_ "

Suddenly the bat was no longer in his hand, instead it hovered a few inches away from him with George wand pointed toward it.

"What you do that for? It's my flat, I can do what I want."

His brother flashed a small smile at his childish behaviour as it reminded him of the much simpler time before Hermione had left for America three months earlier. It made him dizzy just thinking about all that had happened since.

"Though it looks highly amusing to trash your flat and I would gladly like to join you in doing so, maybe we should focus on the problem at hand?"

Still too agitated to sit down he instead started to pace the room, ignoring the feathers and broken pieces that were scattered all over the floor.

"Have you considered the possibility that maybe she was given a Love Potion or something like that?"

Sighing heavily he continued to pace. Yes, the though had crossed his mind briefly once he'd returned back home after dinner last night, drunk, sad and exhausted. Still, he'd spent most of the night unable to sleep, thinking of different ways to make sense of it all and a Love Potion had just been one of the many, many desperate attempts to understand. Though it all seemed too impossible to be for real, he had to admit that it was highly unlikely that was the reason to this sudden change. He'd seen her in love before with Anthony Goldstein and though this relationship seemed to be far more intense he recognized the same affection, devotion and love in her eyes now with Warner ash he'd seen back then.

"I have, but when I saw her again before Warner interrupted us, she was acting too much like her normal self for that to seem like a plausible explanation, no matter how much it seems like it. That's the worst part, George, the fact that it's still my best friend in there, making these decisions. No one is forcing her to get married to this guy, she chose it. You saw how she looked at him today, staring at him like he farts baby unicorns."

"Yes, I know… Okay, let me think of what to do..."

Feeling emotionally drained he slumped down onto the sofa again, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The two of them sat quietly for a while, until he suddenly felt a slap on his arm, something they both did whenever one of them had an idea they wanted to share. This one must be something extra because George was absolutely beaming with excitement, "You know, I think you have to do this. _You'll have to be the Maid of Honor_!"

Before Fred could respond, he continued, "Think about it! This will give you an excuse to be around Hermione all the time, helping her out, be the man behind the curtain. Then you can use that time to point out to her that the idea to get married so soon is absolutely bonkers and that she doesn't even know the guy at all!"

"I don't know, George…"

"Oh, _come on Fred_! You want her to fall for you instead, right? I don't know what your other options are. You have a better chance of stopping this wedding from inside than from another continent. It's a brilliant idea really if I say so myself."

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Yes, he wished for nothing else but a chance to make Hermione see that she at least has an option, and with only four weeks to show her exactly that he really had no other choice but to be the Maid of Honor. It would definitely be a challenge, but he was never one to let that stop him and he would fight for her until the very end. One thing was certain. Now with the situation presented to him he was forced to confront his own fear of commitment and now George had provided a way for him that would show her that he was a changed man.

For the first time it what felt like forever the same feeling of excitement that mirrored that of his twin crept up on him as he thought gleefully on all the creative ways he would make her see that he was the one for her.

Mr. Perfect Warner Collins wouldn't stand a chance.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello everyone!

Can you believe it? Another chapter already? hehe...

Anyways, I hope this chapter makes sense. I tried to get more conversation and less inner monologue in this chapter just because so many of my last ones (if not all of them) have been mainly focused on understanding Freds feelings. Is it difficult to follow the dialogue and understand who says what? Please tell me if that's the case and I'll try to make it more clear.

I'm so excited for the next stage of this fanfic! Now that Fred knows what's at stake we'll follow him in his quest to try and "woo" Hermione while helping her plan for her wedding. We'll see how it goes and if I can make it justice... No pressure!

As always I hope you enjoy this story and I appreciate every Favourite, Follow and Review you leave so please keep them coming! I'm so interested to hear what you think will happen next!

Love,

RuneDraconis1080


	16. Chapter 15

May 25th, 2008

He walked around the room, nervously picking at the different furniture and decorations while the part of him that wanted to just apparate away before any of the others turned up, grew stronger and stronger.

This was a stupid idea and there was no way he'd ever be able to pull it off. He couldn't be the 'Maid of Honor'! he wanted to yell at George for even suggesting it. But his lesser handsome half was right about the fact that if he's serious and really wants Hermione to cancel the wedding, he would have to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Shaking the nerves off he took a deep breath as the old wooden staircase outside creaked, and a moment later the door opened and Madame Rosmerta gestured for her guest to enter the small room.

The effect on his body was instant and it felt as if he had thousands of Billywigs in his stomach as Hermione strutted to view with her usual confidence and a grateful smile to the landlady, before she turned her attention to him.

"You look beautiful Mione!"

"Thank you, Fred," she answered happily as she crossed the room, her flowy, yellow dress following her movements, and in just a couple of strides she was before him.

"I'm so happy you're going to do this," she exclaimed as he engulfed her in a tight hug, and with a pang he remembered why they were there. He'd almost forgotten that he was about to lose her to someone else and that he was on a mission.

Still holding her close to him, he kissed her cheek. "It's my pleasure. For this wedding I'm willing to whatever it takes."

Whatever it takes to prevent it from ever happening.

"I'm so excited!"

I took everything he had to match her expression as he spewed "Me too," but she didn't notice the lie. He couldn't tell whether it frustrated or pleased him that he was able to convince her with his acting these days.

"So, why did you decide we should meet up at the 'Three Broomsticks' of all places? I'm not complaining, it's just not what I would've expected for this kind of gathering. You know, we tried to sneak up to the second floor a couple of times to get a look of it during my Hogwarts years, George and I, but Rosmerta always caught us before we were able to succeed. We heard she had a personal Niffler hidden away here somewhere, and we just wanted to borrow it for a little while. Seems like our attempts were for nothing, though…" He rambled on and Hermione snorted loudly.

"Of course you did," she gave a teasing smile before it softened as she remembered his initial question. "Well, I was a bit unsure to be honest. Warner and I still haven't spoken of our engagement or the wedding to more than our immediate friends and family, and we would like to keep it for ourselves just a little while longer, because once it's out there the press will surely be all over it," she frowned, "unfortunately, this will be like Christmas to them. Anyway, it was a tricky decision. I figured it would be completely out of the question to go to Diagon Alley or anywhere else here in Hogsmeade to discuss the wedding plans without anyone figuring out what we're talking about, so I initially wanted to go somewhere in muggle London, but that would be too risky in case Ginny does some magic by accident. It wouldn't be the first time with her being pregnant and all."

Fred nodded in agreement. Accidental magic wasn't necessarily something that only happened with pregnant women, it was something that could happen to every wizard or witch when they lose control of their emotions in some way. It was never anything big, just small things, however, in Ginny's case they'd noticed that it was something that happened a lot more than average during all three of her pregnancies.

"Angie said Madam Rosmerta let her use this room to plan Katie's Hen Do, so I thought it would be our best option. Either this or my mother's house."

"It's nice. not nearly half as interesting as I had painted it up in my head over the years, though... So, besides the dreadfully hormonal being that is my dear sister, who else are we expecting?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Fred, I should tell you who the other bridesmaids are. Ginny, of course, and Luna-"

"-Luna? Are you sure you want Luna to be a bridesmaid? You know she'll probably contribute with some ludicrous ideas and never heard of traditions," Fred commented hesitantly but quickly changed his approach when he noticed Mione's glare. "What I mean to say is that I think she's great and fun and all, I just didn't think you two were that close. I like Luna!"

She sighed and her mouth twitched irritably.

"Well, I did ask Angelina but she's not able to take any time off work before the wedding. I would happily have just you and Ginny up there with me, but Warner insisted to have three groomsmen in his party. Originally he wanted to have at least five or six, but I managed to change his mind with the compromise that my bridesmaids would actually be women."

"What does he have against other men in your party? I'm your 'Maid of Honor' and he seemed to be fine with that."

Was it possibly so that Mr. Collins was jealous and felt threatened with how many male friends Hermione had? It had never bothered him, she could be a bit socially awkward or intimidating at times and for the most part it was easier for her to befriend people of the opposite sex.

"No, it was his mother's idea. She's the one who's not too fond with the thought of a male 'Maid of Honor'. Or a ' _Man of Honor'_ as it is then called. I'm not exactly happy with it but she's been so kind to help with the wedding and offer to host everyone at their family estate so I don't want to upset her. Besides, just because I don't understand Luna at times it doesn't mean I don't like her. In later years we've grown surprisingly closer, she's interesting and can absolutely be great fun... And as a Wizarding naturalist she's able to control her own schedule. She'll also be a great company to Ginny in the midst of it all."

Yes, his sister was very fond of the former Ravenclaw and you could tell that the feeling was mutual, so he guessed that it was a good idea for the two of them to help each other out.

"So, that's Ginny and Luna. Who's the third one?"

She fell silent as she held his gaze but the way her cheeks reddened gave him a sour taste in his mouth and he suddenly dreaded her answer.

"Oh no, Mione, tell me it not who I think it is!"

She squirmed uncomfortably.

"I know you don't like her Fred, but she's the only other female friend I have that I actually consider myself to be close to!"

He let out a loud groan. As if the situation wasn't bad enough he would now be forced to be in the same room as _her_. She was one of the few women in his life that he actually feared.

"She hates me!"

"There's no need to be so dramatic."

"But she does! You _know_ she does!"

"Okay, fine, yes she does but you broke her heart."

"She broke my _nose_!"

"That was an accident-"

"- _She hit me with her fist_! And moments before she shrunk my-"

"-Yes I know, I know-"

"-I had to go to St. Mungo's so they could figure out the counter spell! It took _two weeks_ before everything was back to normal."

"Yes, but-"

"-All this just because I was completely honest with her and said: 'Look, nothing serious', and she agreed. Next thing I know I get attacked!"

"Well Fred, sometimes our hearts don't match our mouths. Anyhow, it's been seven years so just act like a grown up and behave, okay?"

Loud voices could be heard outside the room and he felt himself stiffen up and grip his wand in his back pocket in case he'd need it to defend himself, but her hand closed around his arm.

" _Promise me_ , Fred."

He looked into her beautiful brown eyes and crumbled to their power, so he let go of his wand and sulkily replied, "Yes, I promise I'll keep the peace. Anything for you, Mione," and her sweet smile erased all trace of bitterness in him for the moment.

Just then the door opened and his sister wobbled inside, closely followed by Luna. It was a funny sight to see. Ginny squealed and burst into tears the second she set eyes upon Hermione and he had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes as she struggled to move forward to hug the brunette, almost falling over her own feet in the process. Luna and Hermione both moved to help their friend and Fred then joined in to greet them. He gave his sister a quick peck on the cheek but she was obviously too excited to pay him much attention so he instead focused on the blonde who currently looked around the room in her usual dreamy manner. Probably searching for Nargles.

"Hi Luna, how are you? It's good to see you."

"Hello Fred-" Before she could say anything else the shrill shriek of a third person interrupted them.

"Hermione, the bride to be! Dear Merlin, you look _gorgeous_!"

As he turned to the newcomer he noted that she hadn't changed much, even though it had been several years since he'd last seen her. He had once considered her features to be beautiful with sharp cheekbones, small but plump lips, a slight curve to the bridge of her nose, and clear blue eyes under heavy eyelids. He was a bit taken aback, though, to see a blinding smile on her face since it was so far from the vicious expression she wore in his last memory of her. The most noticeable difference was that her blonde locks had been replaced with a pixie-cut. He watched as her tall frame darted across the room and how she engaged in the giggly conversation filled with excitement and congratulations that Ginny had initiated with Hermione at her own arrival, and for a moment he just stood there and observed the bizarre display in front of him.

She'd been sorted into Hufflepuff in his second year, been a member of Dumbledore's Army and was one of the few former students who'd answered their call for help during the Battle of Hogwarts, but back she hadn't been one of the many ladies he'd charmed during his school days. No, it hadn't been until about a year after his friendship with Hermione had started and their Thursday meet-ups had transitioned from the occasional lunch to an established tradition, that he'd happened upon the former Hufflepuff again. As she worked in the Beast-division, she'd caught his eye one day as he'd walked through the 'Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' on his way to get Mione, and a few charismatics compliments and alluring grins later she'd fallen for his charms just like so many others had before her. Their rendezvous lasted for almost two whole months before it's abrupt end when she hadn't appreciated his honesty concerning the status of their relationship. And Merlin, did she hold a grudge. Thankfully she too seemed adamant to avoid him at all costs so it was fairly safe for him to walk about the ministry and Level 4 where she worked close to Hermione, without an encounter.

Why, oh why, his Mione decided it was a good idea to befriend Alice Tolipan after everything that had happened was beyond him, and even more unfortunate was it that their friendship had grown stronger over the years. Granted, they were colleagues and two ambitious and visionary women in their field, but that was about the only thing they had in common.

Only a few moments had passed since her arrival but he realised he couldn't avoid her any longer no matter how much he wanted to, and he reminded himself of his promise to Mione just a few minutes ago. So, he forced down a shudder before plastering on what he hoped wasn't his most obvious fake smile and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"Alice! How have you been?"

The poison in her eyes spoke volumes, and it was as if he shrunk several inches under the short second her gaze twitched in his direction, but she gave no other indication that she'd heard him. The atmosphere in the room had drastically changed, however, and an unpleasant silence echoed in the room before-

"I'd say that was a bit awkward, wouldn't you? Say Fred, I don't think Alice likes you very much. Did you do something wrong?"

He felt like sinking through the floor of embarrassment as Luna spoke, and Ginny gave a forced laugh to try and ease the tension while Hermione's face contorted into a grimace at her words. She then gave him a disapproving look and all he could do was to try and convey his " _what? I was nice! She's the one who needs to behave_ ," with only a few subtle facial expressions. She just rolled her eyes and the moment was broken when Madame Rosmerta entered the room with a tray of beverages, and they all welcomed the distraction and moved to sit down at the table where they all started chattering about once again.

"Oh, Luna, just you wait until you get to meet Warner. He's absolutely _dreamy_!"

"Dreamy to say the least. When Hermione came by work yesterday and told me she had something she needed to tell me, I could never have suspected that she was engaged and would introduce me to that god of a man. Seriously Hermione. You're so lucky! I can see why you'd want to get married right away."

 _Urgh_. He wanted to cast a ' _silencio'_ on Tolipan just to make her stop her from praising his competitor and fill Mione's head with some sort of confirmation that this was actually a good idea. He remembered how his own mother had been very vocal against Bill and Fleur's engagement, thinking it was rushed, and they'd been dating for _a year_! And it was deffinitely frowned upon every time Ron got engaged after only a brief period of dating, so why did everyone suddenly think it's absolutely acceptable to get married after only three-four months of knowing each other when it was _Mione_ who was the one about to get married? Was it perhaps just this particular union everyone supported?

"I'll be interesting to meet him. I'm not very trusting of Obliviators since most of them work to discredit my job by erasing any trace of the rare creatures I work hard to find and try to prove exist, but I don't like to judge anyone either. I'm sure he's very nice. And I do love weddings so this'll be wonderful."

He didn't even need to glance in Hermione's direction to know that her cheeks had coloured in irritation after Luna had, unknowingly and definitely without any ill will in mind, insulted Warners occupation, especially since Hermione herself wasn't much of a believer of half of the creatures Luna claimed existed. He wondered just how much she regretted her choice to have her as a bridesmaid. He didn't mind, in fact he realised the potential ally he could make with the blonde Ravenclaw if he played his cards right.

"Oh, I'm not worried at all about that. He managed to charm his way to Hermione's heart, and we all know just how much of a difficult task that can be!" The ladies all laughed at Ginny's comment and he forced out a chuckle as well while trying to make himself feel better by thinking that at least this wasn't the first time the perfect Hermione Granger had been charmed by someone's looks - Gilderoy Lockheart for example. When she was thirteen, but still.

"I'm just so happy for you Hermione. From what I could tell Warner's an absolute gentleman and after everything you've done for everyone else you deserve someone's who's there for you too."

It was as if Alice had slapped him all over again, only this time it hurt so much worse. Didn't she see? Didn't anyone see just how much he cared for Mione? He'd always been the one to be on her side, just like she'd been on his. Every time she'd cried her eyes out because of a new cover story that once again gossiped and speculated over why she was unable to keep a man. Every time some hateful witch or wizard had tried to stop her progress with S.P.E.W.. When her father died. He'd always been there.

"What do you think of Warner, Fred? Save Hermione you're the only one here who's actually had time for a proper conversation with him. I'm sure you don't like the competition-" _Wait what?_ His blood ran cold and he stared at his sister in absolute horror. Did she know? Would she out him here and now? Why would she do that? "- I mean, for what must be the first time in forever you're not the center of all female attention. Quite a relief for me I must say. It's disturbing how many times I get questioned about your relationship status. Or worse." A frown replaced the smirk on her face and he guessed she wished she'd never brought up the subject just as much as he did.

"Interesting. Warner must be very handsome then. Rolf is beautiful and I love him very much, but even I must admit that there's something very aesthetically pleasing with Fred's features."

Oh Merlin, was this a nightmare. Tolipan gave an irritated huff but otherwise refused to engage in the new course of discussion and Mione had become strangely silent.

"Okay, enough about my brother's good looks! Warner is indeed most handsome, with that gorgeous hair of his that flows like a dark river down his face," Ginny answered Luna and gave a wink in her direction, "Of course I could go on, but I believe I asked the Maid of Honor of his opinion. Fred?"

Even Alice turned her head slightly in his direction and with three other pairs of eyes looking at him expectantly, he had no choice in the matter but to answer, "He's… Great! Absolutely great. Super," between clenched teeth.

Hermione put her hand on top of his and held it tightly, with a graceful smile. "It's funny, Warner was actually a bit nervous to meet Fred because he knew how much I care for him, but after our dinner he told me that all his worries were for naught. Fred behaved exceptionally well considering I hadn't told him anything about Warner beforehand."

Of course Warner didn't consider him a threat to his relationship with Hermione. After their disastrous introduction which had resulted in Fred knocked out on the floor and covered in food, which was then followed by a one sided conversation where Warner had asked him loads of questions and he had answered with one halfwitted word after the other, all while getting drunk on wine and silently hyperventilating. He himself couldn't consider that version of himself to be a threat to their relationship either.

Just you wait Warner. Soon you'll change your mind. Soon your worries will be very much real but by then it'll be too late.

A short knock on the door and Madam Rosmerta appeared once again, "I'm sorry to interrupt for a moment, but a Mr. Collins is waiting for you to answer his floo call in the fireplace downstairs, Hermione." A chorus of 'aaws' erupted from the women in the room as Mione rose from her seat with a faint blush on her cheeks, and Fred had no choice but to coo along with them, though he did so painfully ironically, as she followed the landlady downstairs.

"They're so adorable," Ginny whispered as the door shut before she turned drastically toward the rest of them with a serious expression which were mimicked by Alice and even Luna. Confused by what was going on he just looked between them and listened to their conversation.

"Okay, so we only have three weeks until we leave for New York on the 15th, so we have to act quickly. No matter what anyone says I'm definitely capable of organizing most everything that's needed, even though I'm not really the 'Maid of Honor' in this situation," that last past with a hint of irritation.

"I think it's really incredible that you are willing to do that even though you're pregnant, Ginny, but in all honesty, I've been a 'Maid of Honor' six times so if there's anything you'd like for me to do, just let me know. You don't need to do everything yourself."

"I appreciate that, Alice, thank you. Anyhow, so there's the bridal shower, the Hen Do, dress fittings, shopping for Hermione's True Self-"

"I'm sorry, but what's Hermione's 'True Self?" It was not as if he really wanted to ask the question. The shy but excited 'oohs' they made was enough for him to realise that it was something special, but it was as if they spoke a different language, talking about all these wedding traditions that he had no idea were so important and things that he hadn't even thought about that needed to be done, so he had no other choice but to interrupt.

"It's lingerie. For her wedding night."

 _Oh._ It was sort of a relief that it was Alice who'd explained it to him because not even the image of Hermione in sexy lingerie could distract him from the cold pair of eyes that were now fixed on him.

"Seriously Weasley, how are you supposed to be a good Maid of Honor if you don't even know that!"

Surprised by her outburst he couldn't help but think it a small victory that she finally acknowledged his existence, even though it was just to scorn him.

"She's talking to me," he said with a smirk.

"No I wasn't!"

"You just did." He'd almost forgotten his promise to behave, but he figured he could get away with it since Hermione wasn't present anyways. Just for a few moments he was able to focus on something else than the growing ache in his chest, and though it was a dangerous game it was amusing to rile her up. Just for a few moments though.

"Oh I'm sorry, Fred. Did I break a _rule_?" Her words dripped with sarcasm which only emphasized the utter disdain she held for him. Touché.

Luna, who had no idea of what was going on, silently looked between them in a mild mix of confusion and interest while sipping her tea, while they were busy trying to assert dominance over the other with their eyes.

"Okay, how about we focus on the actual wedding? I'll need to know your dress sizes so we can put down the order for them as soon as possible."

Without breaking eye contact, Alice sneered, "What's your size, ' _Maid of Honor'_?" and in turn his wand was pointed at her face, a move that was quickly mirrored by her.

This was the final straw for Ginny, who'd grown more annoyed by the second by this utter lack of respect seeing that this was neither the time nor place for them to focus on unresolved issues, and for a moment she lost control of her magic, causing the drinks to shoot up and splash against the ceiling.

"That's enough you two! Honestly! I already have two children to take care of back home, and I don't need for you to act like such as well! Now, can you _please_ just think of why we're here for a moment? Hermione - she's happy, _finally,_ And I will not let you ruin this for her, so let's all just get along, put a smile on our faces, and pretend that everything is perfect!"

Just like scolded children, they nodded glumly and muttered "Okay, fine," mostly because his sister had a very good point, but also because they were afraid she would intentionally do something worse to them if they continued. Everyone knew of Ginny Potter's Bat-Bogey hex.

Of course, she had no idea that he had every intention to ruin the wedding. Not to upset Hermione, of course not! Just so that he could make her understand that she's making a huge mistake and that _he_ wants to be the one to make her so happy.

"So. Dress sizes?"

"Ginny?" Luna's airy soprano seemed unfazed by her friends outburst, though she glanced a bit disappointed to her now empty cup.

"Yes, Luna?"

"I was just thinking that maybe you put a lot of unnecessary responsibility on yourself with this wedding," she saw how Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but quickly continued, "not as a bridesmaid, of course, but I think you can and should hand over most of the responsibility to Fred. Traditionally it's his job as the 'Maid of Honor' after all, and I don't think we should underestimate just what he can do."

The silence that followed was deafening in the small room as the three of them gaped at the blonde in astonishment, which she just returned with her usual smile and a slight raise of her eyebrows.

Fred's first reaction was to loudly decline his claim and shove the responsibility on the two women in the room that seemed more than excited and actually had a clue of what needed to be done, but then a second thought struck him. Wasn't the very purpose of him accepting the title of 'Man of Honor' so that he could take control of everything that would happen leading up to the wedding? He had to be the one closest to the pair so that he could find out everything he needed to be able to stir the pot to his own, and in turn - Hermione's, favour. The man behind the curtain.

"You know what, Luna? I think you're absolutely right. I need to own up to the responsibilities that comes with the title. It's 'Man of Honor', by the way," he smirked and Luna nodded approvingly while Ginny and Alice still tried to adjust to this new turn of events. Finally Ginny gave a frustrated groan and threw her arms up in defeat.

"Fine. _Fine_. This is so _unfair_. We both know that had it not been for the fact that I'm pregnant _I_ would have been the 'Maid of Honor'."

Looking at her dejected face, his heart filled with sympathy for his sister. She'd wanted this for so long. Hermione had been hers when she'd married Harry, and seeing how close the two were it was no wonder that she'd expected a different scenario when their roles were to be reversed. And it was true that had the circumstances been any different she would be in his place.

"You're right, but don't worry, Gin. You'll have plenty of opportunity to help without putting too much stress on yourself. Merlin knows I'll need lots of it for me to be able to do this, especially with such short notice."

His words didn't exactly have the desired effect since she still looked unhappy with the situation, but in the end she gave a small smile.

"You'll need it alright. Well, if that's the way it's going to be," she frowned, "I'll send you an owl later today with my dress size. Hermione have already promised me that we can special order my dress for it to have more options when it comes to the fitting, since I grow bigger each day. Unfortunately there's only so much you can do with magic when it comes to adjust fabric and clothes..."

"Got it."

The others told him what he needed to know about their dresses as well, and they were just about done when Mione once again appeared, looking like a lovesick puppy.

"He's so sweet," she said with a sigh which was echoed by the others and the bitter taste in his mouth returned as he was reminded of how much he hated Collins for being the one who could induce that feeling of happiness in her.

"Isn't that great?" He was barely able to conceal his contempt, but of course the others didn't notice.

"So, how's everything going?" A quick glance between himself and Alice revealed that she knew it had been a risky move to leave the room, but determined not to let anything show from the disagreement that had occurred in her absence, they all followed Ginny's direction to put on a smile and even a collected laugh when they answered, "Good, really good,","Fantastic!", "Great!" and she visibly relaxed.

"Yes, in fact we're pretty much done," Ginny said.

"Really? That's fantastic! I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm relieved everything's going according to plan and I'm sure it'll be perfect in the end. Together we'll make it happen."

His lips twitched when he thought about the road ahead. It would be something alright. Perfect, yes, but not in the way she would expect.

"I do have one question. Why is there Butterbeer and tea dripping everywhere?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello there my lovely, loyal readers, both new and old ones!

I'm so sorry for the wait for this chapter, life got inte the way and suddenly six months had passed. There's no need to worry, though, I promise I'll always come back.

As always you're more than welcome to help me further improve my writing by pointing out any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, or anything else for the matter. I just want this story to become the best that it can be, so I really appreciate constructive criticism.

Thank you for reading this story and for every Follow, Favourite and Review! It means so much to me to see all the work and effort I put into this story being appreciated!

Much love,

RuneDraconis1080


	17. Chapter 16

May 27th, 2008

It was really a perfect evening for the lads to meet up. The weather was pleasant with almost no wind in the air, the sun was low and had an unusually soft glow to it, and yet Fred didn't enjoy it one bit. Instead he swung his Beaters bat furiously around while glaring at the tall man who currently was crouched down a few feet away from him.

"Easy there! Perhaps you should wait to be so aggressive until you've warmed up a bit more? We both know it's no fun to pull a muscle, not to mention the pain to heal it again," George snickered as he came to stand next to him, pointedly rolling his shoulders in gentle movements and preparing his body for the game that was about to take place. Fred made a face but took his brothers' advice and slowed down a bit, but still glared in the same direction as before.

Warner, however, looked busy tightening his protection gear and therefore blissfully unaware of the hostile look that was sent his way.

"Remind me again why you invited him to play quidditch with us?"

He sighed.

* * *

 _May 25th, 2008 - Flashback_

 _"That was quite a success, don't you think?" Hermione beamed at him after she'd waved good-bye to Alice, who was the last one, save from the Bride-to-be and himself, to leave their little meet-up at 'the Three Broomsticks'._

 _'Success' definitely wasn't his first choice to describe what had just happened. The shocking and - to him -,_ unpleasant _reveal of who at least_ one _of the other bridesmaids would be, all the drama concerning Hermione's decision to have him be the 'Man of Honor' and the sudden responsibilities he now had on his hands that came with that title, and, above all, the constant praise of his new nemesis in which he had been forced to partake in in order to keep up appearances._

 _Alas, when she looked at him in question he smiled in agreement, "A success indeed. Tolipan even looked me in the eye on purpose towards the end. I think she's warming up to me."_

 _The brunette shoved his shoulder playfully but didn't hide her relieved expression._

 _"I hope so. I want both of you there on my wedding day."_

 _Her wedding day._

 _He had little time to lose if he was to change the event from ever taking place._

 _"By the way, Fred. Can I ask you a favour?"_

 _"Sure."_

 _"My mother and I are going to dinner the day after tomorrow. We have so much to plan and discuss so I was wondering if-"_

 _"-if I could be there to give you my expertly advice and share my_ extensive _knowledge on the matter? Why of course, I'm happy to be of assistance."_

 _She simply rolled her eyes at his antics then raised her left eyebrow, silently asking if he was done and he sheepishly grinned in response._

 _"Anyway- no. Actually I was wondering if you and the boys could entertain Warner for the afternoon?"_

 _Immediately less excited he swallowed his groan._

 _"Entertain him?"_

 _"You know, just get to know him and things like that. He doesn't know anyone here besides me and I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to have some fun."_

 _"Sure. We'll think of something to do."_

 _"Thank you, Fred. You're the best." She gave him a quick squeeze, then stepped forward and grabbed a handful of floo powder before entering the fireplace in order to go to the Ministry._

 _Her happy, brown eyes was the last thing he saw, and the echo of her words._

You're the best.

* * *

"Fred? You need to stop zoning out like that, mate. It's extremely frustrating."

"Mione asked me to invite him to spend the afternoon with us, and I figured this would be the best thing to do to get to know him better."

"Get to know him?" His twin looked very confused and Fred grinned smugly.

"Yes," he lowered his voice in case anyone was listening in. "He's the competition. I need to know his strengths and weaknesses in order to be able to succeed in my mission. This is what I have to do."

"Alright, I guess that sort of makes sense. You know, it's easier to get to know someone if you actually _talk_ to them, and it definitely doesn't help that you're staring daggers his way. It might come across as, I don't know - _rude_."

"I know, I know. I just don't like it. Not one bit."

Oliver and Adrian came flying to a stop next to them, hovering a few feet above ground.

"What are you strapping young lads whispering about?" Oliver asked with a wink.

"I just asked Fred if he knows what position Warner would prefer to play," George immediately lied smoothly.

"And?"

"I said I don't know. I'm not sure how much quidditch Collins' have played in the past." Fred replied honestly. He hadn't thought to ask if Warner knew how to play before inviting him to come join them.

They all turned their eyes toward the newcomer. Warner was now happily conversing with Lee who looked genuinely interested in their conversation. The fact that one of his best mates would act like that made Fred feel somewhat betrayed, and his mood, which had gone up considerably after talking to George, dampened once again.

"I must say, whether or not he's played before, he looks like a professional in that shirt. I'm surprised," Adrian said. "It looks like a team shirt of some sort."

"Yes, you idiot. It's _my_ _shirt_ ," Fred growled disbelievingly, not appreciating the reluctant note of admiration in Puceys' voice. "It's my _Gryffindor quidditch team shirt_. Collins' needed to borrow it since he didn't have anything to play in..."

"Huh. It looks really good on him."

"Yes well, he's on your team then," Fred muttered, before mounting his broom and kicking off the ground. "What are you lot waiting for? Ready to play or not?"

As Warner mounted his broom, Oliver shouted "Warner, have ye ever played quidditch before?"

"I don't have much experience, no. We learn how to fly at during our second year at Ilvermorny, but we don't play nearly as much quidditch as you do here. We prefer quodpot in America."

"Quodpot? What's that?" Lee asked, intrigued, and Fred was also a bit curious as he wasn't very familiar with the game, as was George. Adrian and Oliver rolled their eyes.

"Two teams of 11 players compete against each other, throwing one jinxed quad into the other teams pot at the end of the pitch before the quad explodes. If the quad explodes while a player holds it, the player is out of the game." Warner explained, a bit bored. He obviously wasn't much more interested in quodpot as he was quidditch, and Fred grathered that the american wasn't really much of a sportsman at all. He smirked.

"Weasleys', I'm surprised _you_ don't know about quodpot! You can read all about this in ' _Quidditch Through the Ages_ ', and you're _purebloods_ for Merlin's sake!"

"Shut up, Pucey! I'll have you know that our brother Bill actually _tried_ to teach how to play when we were kids, but when the potato he'd gotten dad to jinx for the game, exploded in his face, mum banned the game to ever be played around our house ever since," George defended, annoyed.

Oliver, who was arguably the most mature of the bunch, stepped in as he sensed another argument coming along when Adrian opened his mouth to retaliate.

"Enough. Let's get on with the game." Wood immediately fell into his natural captain role. "You know the rules though, Warner?"

"Yes," Warner replied.

"Good. Obviously we don't have enough players for a proper game, but now when we're an even number of three per team, let's play with one Seeker, and two Chasers, with one who doubles as a Keeper. Sounds good?"

Thought the others nodded along, Fred wasn't at all pleased. He wanted this opportunity to show Warner that he himself was an excellent player and wanted to see just how well the american intruder would cope with the pressure.

"Oh come on, Wood! Surely we can play with one Bludger as well? George brought the one from the kids collection so it wouldn't be as aggressive. Just an added obstacle for fun."

Oliver gave him a pointed look, as if he knew full well what his true intention was, but before he could object, Warner spoke up. "I don't mind if you guys wanna add that thing to the game. Might as well go full out, you know?"

Excited grins and a new energy filled the air, and Oliver just shook his head, though Fred could see that he too looked thrilled with the outcome.

"Fine. The one Chaser that doesn't double as Keeper will then be the Beater. I'll go with Pucey and Collins on my team, and Lee, you go with the 'Weasley Whooshers'."

Each team took a few minutes to decide who would play each position. George had somewhat reluctantly agreed to let Fred be the Beater, but only after the insurance from the latter not to use this opportunity to purposely injure Collins _too_ much. Lee was chosen to be the other Chaser/Keeper so George ended up as Seeker.

They flew to their starting positions, and with added glee he noticed that Warner held the second Beaters bat in his arms where he was positioned on the other side of the field.

"Okay everyone," Oliver shouted, his wand pointed at the trunk on the ground containing the Quaffle, Bludger and Snitch they were to use for the game. "Beaters, take it easy with the Bludger, okay? I know it's supposed to be a bit gentler and softer than a normal one, however, that won't matter much if you haul it with full strength toward another player. Try to focus on the getting the Quaffle instead? Alright. Let's go!"

With that the trunk was opened and the three balls flew into the air.

Wood and Pucey did a fantastic job trying to keep up with their respective responsibilities while shouting instructions at a confused and overwhelmed Warner, but other than that they all went about the game just like they normally would, and it didn't take long before Lee scored their first 10 points.

"Warner, when you get the Quaffle, just focus on moving toward the goal and I'll try to keep up with ye!"

"Watch out, Collins! You need to try and hold on to the Quaffle when the Bludger hits you, or try and throw it to Wood before impact."

"Warner, keep an eye on George and haul the Bludger in his direction if you think he's seen the Snitch."

It went on like that.

Fred noticed eagerly that Warner struggled some with all the things to keep in mind. Wood and Pucey may be famously talented professional players but they suffered greatly against the their team with one player short, especially since Fred, true to his word, focused his attention not only on his nemesis, but the two of them as well. The 'Weasley Whooshers' had a significant lead in points and the gap kept getting bigger.

When Warner eventually almost did score, he was hit with the Bludger with one particularly good shot, and Fred watched pleased, as Collins rubbed the sore spot where the ball had hit him.

"You okay there, Collins?" He feigned concerned, though there was absolutely nothing in his voice to match his expression. Pucey hovered beside him, also watching his team mate.

"Sure thing," Warned replied, still cradling his sore shoulder.

Adrian smirked at him, "You did that on purpose, right?", and Fred simply wriggled his eyebrows with a broad grin on his face, then the game resumed.

Over and over again he managed to crush Warner's attempts to score a goal and it felt like it was almost too easy.

When his brother joined his side when Fred for once had the Quaffle in his arms, he gleefully said, "You know what I'm learning? The bloke's a complete knucklehead," and he managed to score yet another ten points to their team. "I'm looking pretty good now, don't I?" George shook his head at his brother's antics whilst chuckling quietly.

"Warner, just focus on the Bludger first, okay? Just try to get the other team off my back while I try to score," Oliver instructed, desperate to gain back some control over the situation and letting his willingness to win take over from the morality of the friendly game. Wood then snubbed Lee of the Quaffle and set out to make a goal, but with ease Fred and Lee joined his side, trying to take back the ball. But Warner hadn't listened. A loud _smack_ from the other side of the field made all of them stop their movements and they watched in amazement as George was hanging in the air with only his hands on the broom, struggling to get up again.

"Sorry guys, I saw George was about to catch the golden thingy and I figured I had to stop him."

Surprised with how close the baritone american accent was they all stared at him in stunned silence, completely oblivious to George who still struggled.

"You hit him from _there_? _Intentionally?_ " Oliver finally asked.

"Yeah, sorry, sorry. I figured it was best to hit the handle so he would lose his balance. Didn't think he'd fly off the broom."

"No, but honestly. Did you actually _aim_ your hit towards the handle of a flying broom? From _there?_ "

"Yeah, why? Aren't you allowed to take your aim on the broom?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you guys do it?"

Adrian snorted. "I don't think you understand, Collins. It's extremely _difficult_ for someone to actually _aim_ exactly where to hit a person with a Bludger. Especially on a moving object and from such a long distance. It usually takes lots of practice to perfect, and even then it's a challenge. Not even Fred and George here are capable of hitting their aim with those conditions, and they're two of the absolute best natural Beaters I've ever met. The fact that this is your first time playing and you just casually managed such a feat is truly incredible!"

Unhappy with the new turn of events, Fred flew across the field to help George get on his broom again. The handle was thankfully without a scratch seeing as it was a softer ball than the one used in proper games, but it had obviously been a very powerful blow.

"Did you see that?" Fred asked bitterly.

"See it? I _felt_ it! That blow was strong enough to literally make me fly off the broom! I completely lost my balance."

"He meant to do it! He _aimed_ for the handle!"

George gaped in astonishment. "No way. He couldn't _possibly_ have calculated for the Bludger to hit there from such a distance."

Fred shook his head vigorously, still at a loss of what to do. "No he really did! He planned it! _He aimed!_ "

"Don't be ridiculous. He's never even played quidditch before. I'm sure he won't be able to do it again."

But he did.

Suddenly the opposite team had a third excellent player who used his newly found skill to thwart the 'Weasley Whooshers' previous success. The scores became more and more even, and several times Fred got to feel first hand how it felt to be at the end of the Beaters aim. His own skill with the bat felt absolutely useless.

As Warners confidence grew, so did his talent and soon scored a few goals of his own, though Fred tried his best to hinder their ever growing number of points, not even bothering to call this a friendly game anymore. This felt like the game of a lifetime and he was losing. He grew even more frustrated with Warner, if that was possible.

In the end George did manage to secure a win for their team, but it was a close call that ended with a total of 290 points vs. 160, the Snitch still being 150 points, and even Oliver and Adrian had too good a mood with the final score not to bother with the fact that they lost. Fred didn't celebrate the victory either.

He reluctantly shook Warners hand with a frown and said, "good game," before jumping off his broom and headed towards the locker room, the others gathering around the star of the evening, giving high fives and praise.

Only George appeared at his side, giving him a worried and sympathetic look.

"Looks like you've got more competition than we first though…"

" _I know, I know_ …" Frowning, he tried to ease his frustration by thinking of different ways to use this new knowledge for his own gain.

* * *

In the locker room, each focused on themselves getting ready to shower in silence. All Fred wanted now was a hot shower to melt away his humiliation, then a drink of some sort. And a plan. He definitely needed a plan.

As he undressed, he flexed his sore muscles, taking note of all the bruises that already started to take shape, then hurried to the showers and was thankful for the warm water hitting his face and body. Too soon, though, has heard a second shower getting turned on next to him and by the flash of black hair he saw from his peripheral vision, he deducted that it was his rival.

Without meaning too, or perhaps it was the slightest bit of curiosity that got the best of him, he glanced at the tan body of Warner. From his brief look he could tell that the american had a broader build than himself, with large, but not too defined, muscles that toned his body, and it was difficult for Fred to comprehend how Collins possibly could maintain his looks if he wasn't an athlete. The tan skin was smooth without fault which made the ginger twin even more conscious than usual about the scars on his back from when the wall fell on him back at the Battle at Hogwarts, that stood out is stark contrast to his pale complexion. Fred knew that he normally was considered to be a really handsome man, with his lean build and he was usually very proud of his physique, but standing next to Warner he was suddenly plagued with insecurities.

To torture himself further he dared take one second peek, and he instantly regretted it, for what had caught his eye was the most enormous piece of equipment he'd ever seen attached on a man in his entire life. Not that he usually was one to compare sizes, at least not since his fifth or sixth year at Hogwarts, but he was used to shared showers and it was just something that was part of life. This, however, was the single most horrifying thing to burn itself into his mind.

"Merlin's Ba-"

Lee's exclamation broke him from his downward spiral and when he looked up he noticed his three friends and his brother in the doorway, each of them staring at Warner's genitalia with looks of disbelief, before quickly averting their eyes to look anywhere but _there_. Fred could see Adrian silently mouth " _Wow!_ " while Lee had his fist pressed against his mouth in a desperate attempt to not let his shocked laughter be heard.

It would've been a funny sight to see the five respectable, good looking friends, trying to cover themselves, more aware of their own body images than ever before in each others presence, as they all compared themselves to the sixth person standing all in his glory in the shower.

Warner wasn't shy about it. He carried on washing himself and it he noticed the eyes on him he at least didn't mention it.

Fred rushed out to dry off and get changed. He wasn't used to be so self aware and the thought it bothered him, but it seemed that Warner had everything, absolutely _everything_ a man could possibly need to make other men feel inferior. He was charismatic to a point that he could get most everyone on his good side, he was strong and confident in his skills which was evident by the bruises on Fred's body, as well as George's and Lee's, and he was _extremely_ good looking.

After another 20 minutes or so, everyone was about done getting dressed, and it was just about time to say goodbye for the night.

"Everyone done here?" Oliver asked.

"I'm just gonna use the restroom, then I'm ready," Warner announced, and Oliver pointed him in the direction of the loo.

When he was sure Warner was out of sight, Fred quickly cast " _Muffliato_ " around them, then turned to the rest in desperation.

"Arg! What the bloody hell was _that?_ " He exclaimed, pacing around the room. "Where in Merlin's name did he learn how to _play like that?_ He was supposed to suck at quidditch and I was supposed to crush him! _Crush him!_ Then he _aims_ , and he _scores_ and he has no bloody weaknesses. _None!_ Nothing whatsoever!"

George calmly laid a hand on his shoulder but didn't say anything while the others looked confused at this sudden eruption.

"Care to elaborate, mate?" Lee asked, tentatively.

"You know - he's the _competition!_ " Fred answered in frustration.

"Competition… to what?"

"To Hermione, of course!"

Ardian groned from where he stood, " _Urgh_ , you're still on about that thing?" and Fred glared daggers at him.

"They're getting married in less than one month and I need to stop it before then, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to do that because Warner's bloody perfect in every way! I mean _honestly!_ "

"You got that right. Tell me what you guys saw in there because I couldn't believe my own eyes…" Lee said, unable to keep the jealousy away from his voice.

"A smooth set of cheeks that was, I tell you that," Oliver responded without thought, then jolted and his face reddened as if he just then realised he'd said it out loud.

"I saw the back of his b-"

"That thing was _colossal!_ "

Lee and Adrian started a very unwelcome discussion of Warners' member, and Fred felt the need to slap each of them. Preferably with a Beaters bat. Thankfully George, who still had his hand on his shoulder, beat him to it and decked them on their heads.

"Shut up, you idiots. Warner will be back any second now and I don't think my devilishly handsome twin can handle much more of this. We get it, Warner's one clean and pert ass indeed, problem is - how do we help Fred get rid of said _ass_ so he can get the girl?"

They all had the decency to look sympathetic at Fred's predicament, but no one said anything. Finally Oliver broke the brief silence. "Sorry mate, I dinna ken what to tell ye. I don't necessarily think it's any of my business to get involved, but I know ye and I know how ye feel about Miss Granger. I wish you the happiness you deserve, so I'll see what I can think of."

Lee nodded and sheepishly smiled. "You're one of my best friends, Fred. Of course I'll help you with whatever you need. We'll help you get Hermione to realise it's you she wants, not Mr. Collins whom she doesn't even know. Whatever you need, mate, I'm there."

They then turned to Pucey, who just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You're all morons."

"Some friend you are, you little piece of-" George started, but just the Warner turned the corner and he had to stop himself from saying anything else as Fred quickly got rid of the muffliato-charm.

"Did you guys hear a buzzing sound?" Collins asked as he approached the group.

"Yes, you can hear it sometimes in the locker room. Don't know the cause for it, though. Could be the muggle devices around here that's reacting to all the magic." Fred lied smoothly, and Warner seemed content with the explanation.

"Alright, let's go."

They all turned to walk outside, when Adrian spoke up.

"Hey, Fred, wait just a second, I need to talk to you about something in private. It's about that thing, you know…"

Confused, Fred haltered in his movements and stayed behind as the rest of them walked away, George giving them curious looks on the way.

Adrian didn't say anything until they were all alone.

"Fine, I get it. You _love_ her blablabla.-"

"Pucey, what-"

"Just listen," Adrian interrupted, impatiently. "We need to get some dirt on the fella, okay? I know this man that people use when a spouse suspects infidelity, and I figured he could help. Everybody's got skeletons in their cupboard. Nobody is squeaky-clean, and my guy is the best."

Fred rubbed his forehead as his brain tried to deal with everything that had happened in the last few hours. Adrian's attempt to help did on one hand sound like something he should consider, but on the other it also somehow felt like cheating. Did he want to win Hermione's heart that way?

"I don't know, Pucey," he said hesitatingly. "It just seems so cheap."

Adrian scoffed. "Don't worry about. I'll charge you double because you're rich."

"What I meant is that it seems like a cheap thing to do," Fred explained, still uncertain about this whole idea.

"So what? Collins plays cheap, so why shouldn't you?

"How exactly does Warner play cheap?"

"The whole thing with Hermione, him being american, making her fall in love with him in America where she was lonely and without any of her friends and family close by. Come on. It's so cheap."

It did sound an awful lot like a very cheap move, if he were to be honest. Like he had chosen her to be the perfect person to fall for his charm. His foreign, american charm, in a country where she was all alone.

"Fine. Get the dirt."

With that the two of them joined the others outside. The sun had set a long time ago and it was definitely time to go home.

Fred feared what he'd think of when he was alone, though. Time was ticking, and with each day it felt as if his lovely Mione slipped further and further away from him, instead falling into the strong, perfect arms of the perfectly _perfect_ Warner Collins.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello friends!

I know, I know... _I know_.

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter up. I've moved _twice_ in the last couple of months - one of them to another continent -, and I've struggled a bit to get used to everything. I think I'm happy where I am now and hopefully my days will soon become some sort of routine again.

I'm not gonna lie. I've felt somewhat uninspired as of late. It's not so much that I don't want to finish this story, because I reeeally do and now when I upload this chapter I'm really excited to continue on with this story, but I think it's difficult because I have so many other things I want to write as well. There's a new story growing in my mind that I can't get rid of, but I don't know if it would be weird to start a new project without finishing this one first, especially since I don't upload regularly... but I also really love this new idea I have. It could also be good to have more than one project to work on so I can switch between them if I get stuck or bored for a while... I don't know. What do you think?

Anyway, I want you all to know that I love and appreciate your support so much! Thank you for every time you Read, Follow, Favourite and Review any of my stories so keep them coming! I love to hear your opinions, as long as they're with good intentions in mind!

Btw. I was debating whether or not to include the shower bit inspired from the movie. I hope I didn't offend anyone - it definitely wasn't my intention! -, but I hope you think it was manageable and maybe even a bit funny...

also, did any of you get my little sneak reference to one of my favourite YT productions of all time towards the end? I don't want to spoil what or where it came from in this chapter, but I will of course credit it in the next. Or maybe not, since _no one remembers_ what it was ;)

Much love,

RuneDraconis1080


	18. Chapter 17

June 3rd, 2008

The past week had been trying to say the least.

So far it wasn't his duties as 'Man of Honor' that bothered him. Hermione and Warner had spent the past days figuring out all the last details. Which food options would be best to serve, or what colour scheme should they plan the wedding around. How many guests should they invite and so on, and so on. Fred couldn't care less about any of that. Problem was that the two of them wanted him to have an opinion about it all. Everything. And whatever was decided added to the list of things he needed to fix. A list that indeed was piling up.

When he wasn't agreeing and nodding along to everything they said, he stood to the side and observed the couple, trying to figure out the best way to handle the situation. And was painfully invisible to everybody whenever Hermione introduced Warner to someone from work or an old school mate.

She was sensible enough not to announce that she was getting married to everyone. Warner, on the other hand, had more difficulties not to share the _"happy"_ news to the strangers he met. Sometimes it seemed like he would explode as he tried not to blurt it out. As someone who surely could compose himself with dignity in most situations, it was actually an amusing sight. Fred hoped he would. Explode, that is.

The worst thing of all he'd had to do all week was to babysit the groom. When she wasn't planning her own wedding, Mione was at the ministry doing Merlin knows what. Probably working, though Fred couldn't fathom how she could think about work at a time like this. However much he hated his babysitting duty, he did encourage it because it meant she wasn't fawning over her fiancé or focusing on the wedding.

Those had been his days this past week.

The nights were _far_ worse.

How it was even possible that he hadn't died of exhaustion yet was beyond him. He had barely slept anything in months, and when he did sleep it was nightmares, not dreams that followed him. Since the quidditch game with the lads last week he'd plagued with one particularly disturbing dream. In it, he was naked on the ground, covered in greasy food with Warner standing over him. Collins wore his quidditch uniform and was beating him from above with a Beater's bat carved to look like a phallus. With every blow, Dream-Warner chanted things like; _"She will never want you over me,"_ or _"I'm everything she could ever need. What do you have to offer? You're a joke."_ Hermione was there too, but she did nothing but stare at Warner with disgustingly sweet eyes as he continued on with his punches.

At least when Voldy was alive Fred had a legitimate reason to suffer from nightmares. Warner just seemed to be the epitome of everything Fred could never be. Nothing anyone should ever have nightmares about.

Hopefully though, those nightmares would end today.

* * *

It was a vile thing to witness. Not that he in any way tried to look at the display of affection that occurred a few feet away. He actually tried his best to avert his attention to anything else, but it was incredibly difficult to do so in this room. The same cold aura radiated from these walls just like everywhere else at the Ministry. Fred had never been in this particular corridor before, though.

It was just after lunch and the three of them were gathered at the International Portkey Office of the 'Department of Magical Transportation' division. Why? Because Warner was about to leave to go back to New York. Today felt like it should be a glorious and perfect day compared to the ones since Mione's return. Standing here, the reality of it was less exciting. A few feet away stood Hermione and Warner in what seemed to be a warm embrace, eagerly exchanging saliva.

Why was he even here?

They weren't alone in the room. International portkeys were regulated, and long-distance ones were particularly difficult to deal with. At least by wizardling standards. The few others in the room glanced curiously at the couple while waiting for their own portkeys to be ready.

It was an rare sight to see the famous Hermione Granger engage in any form of public display of affection. She had always been keen to keep her private life as private as possible since the Battle at Hogwarts. Though, it was difficult as part of the famous "Golden Trio". If the tabloids were to write about her, she much preferred if they focused on her work and progress at the Ministry, not superficial gossip about her love life. She had plenty of bad experiences of the sort in the past. Her fourth year for example, when Rita Skeeter had almost succeeded to alienate her from his own family because of her articles. Yet there she was, snogging Collins with no care in the world. It looked as if Warner would swallow her whole any second now.

"Mr. Edgar Winthrop, your portkey to Tokyo, Japan, is now ready for you in the room on the third door to the right. It will depart in three minutes."

The loud voice didn't faze the couple in the slightest, though an older man hurried in the pointed direction.

They must have been there for what felt like hours. Surely it was Warner's turn soon? Please announce his name now. It couldn't take this long to prepare one portkey to America. They had magic for Merlin's sake!

A new noise caught his attention and it had the most horrific and yet confusing effect on him. Small, almost unnoticeable moans coming from Mione. He hated the fact that it was Collins and not himself who made her emit such a noise. He hated the fact that Hermione let him do it. It was too much.

Come on. Come on. Take a breath. Take a-

"Mr. Warner Collins, your portkey to the Magical Congress of the United States of America, New York, is now ready for you in the room first door to the left. It will depart in three minutes."

Oh, thank Merlin.

Fred let out a sigh of relief as the two reluctantly broke apart, and tried his best not to look as if he'd been utterly disgusted by their public display. Warner turned to him, slightly out of breath, but with a polite smile and his hand stretched open. "Thanks, Fred. I've had a great time. I'll see you in two weeks."

He obliged and returned the gesture, though it took all his will power not to crush Warner's hand. "Yes. Well, have a nice… travel!" Wow, he was so eloquent.

"Right… Thanks."

Hermione moved beside him and then they were right back at it, furiously moving their mouths in unison again.

Oh, _come on_!

"I love you, Darlin'. I can't wait to marry you." Warner backed towards the closest door to the left with a flirty smirk in Hermione's direction.

"I love you too, Warner. See you soon!"

And with that Mr. Pain-in-my-arse, disappeared behind the door.

Mione turned to Fred and exhaled to compose herself. "Oh Merlin," she said before a satisfied smile graced her lips. She pulled her fingers through her hair to try and tame the messy curls in her beautiful face. She then took his hand and they started to walk away from the Portkey Office towards the elevators.

Already he felt happier than he'd been in a while, the two of them alone together again. "Do you need some chapstick?" he asked, and he could almost fool himself into thinking it didn't sting to tease her about what had just happened. He got his reward as her cheeks coloured and she averted her eyes from him, embarrassed, while murmuring "Yes, please."

"So, where to now?"

"We're having tea with my mother. She wanted to see me and talk about everything concerning the wedding. I don't blame her seeing as I've barely seen her since I got back and sprung the happy news on her. I figured it would be helpful to have you there as well."

Now that Hermione mentioned her mother he did wonder how Mrs. Granger felt about the whole ordeal. Did she support her daughter's decision to get married so soon after meeting her fiancé? Or was she opposed to the idea and just wanted to wait until Warner was gone to tell Hermione? It would be interesting to see so he followed along as they now entered the Atrium and headed to the floo network. He liked Joanne Granger. Now he only hoped that she would prove to be a potential ally for his cause.

* * *

June 5th, 2008

"Okay, the shop is cleaned and locked up. Did you guys start without me?" George's asked as he entered Fred's flat from the door connecting to their joke shop. Fred was grateful for the company, though he wasn't sure how fun their evening would turn out to be.

"Whoa. what's going on here? Where are the others?"

"I'll explain in a second, I need to find the note Ginny gave me. Hold on."

As he scurried through the many parchments on his kitchen counter for the list his sister had given him a few days earlier, he heard the familiar sound of someone entering through his fireplace.

"Who's ready to lose some money tonight? Because I'm feeling lucky," Adrian said, followed by Lee's "Pucey, I tell you. If I lose even so much as a knut tonight I'm sure Katie is going to kill me. She's been on my case about it for the last couple of months. Not the gambling part, just the fact that I'm absolute trash at winning."

Fred snickered with the other's as he entered the sitting room to greet his guests, note in his hand. They all agreed with Katie on this one. Lee was trash at winning. Especially when playing Exploding Snap and there was money at stake.

"You guys are late."

"How are you holding up, mate?" Lee asked as he ignored his friends mocking his gambling abilities.

"It's stressful, I'll tell you that."

"I gave my guy the information I had on Warner Collins, you know. Now we just have to wait a few days and he'll give you all the dirt you need to break them up."

"So you decided to help, Pucey?" George teased, but Fred noticed the hint of surprise in his voice. Adrian wasn't known for caring much about others, especially if it had anything to do with other people's relationships. That was probably the reason why Adrian and himself got along better than Adrian did with most others. They understood each other. Up until recently they had almost been the same. Adrian just prioritized things differently than the others, but that didn't mean he was a bad friend. Though he was somewhat of a prick.

"It's not like he's going to shut up about it any time soon. Thought I might as well offer some assistance."

"That, Pucey, is exactly the thing I wanted to hear right now!" Fred exclaimed as he waved his wand and things in different colours started to hover around them. Up until now the others hadn't noticed the mess around the room, but now they looked around cautiously. The room was filled with what could commonly be described as "girly" things. Flowers, candles, chocolates, a collection of WonderWitch products and much more. Fred didn't necessarily think it was anything wrong for men to like those things either, he certainly could enjoy them from time to time himself. But there were some idiots who didn't agree with this.

"Fred, what the hell is this?" Adrain asked as he held up one of the purple ribbons in apprehension as if it would explode in his face.

"Hermione's bridal party- shower - thing-, is in the morning."

"Her what now?" They all stared at him with blank expressions.

"Her Bridal Shower. At least that's what I think it's called. I don't know."

"What in Merlin's name is a 'Bridal Shower'? Angie never had one of those for our wedding."

"I honestly don't know. Ginny was upset that we wouldn't have the time to throw them a proper engagement party before Warner would leave for New York again. Collins then mentioned we could instead host this American tradition called a Bridal Shower. Hermione was opposed to the idea at first but both Ginny and Tolipan said it would be a great way for her to embrace the American culture. And now here we are. Of course, as 'Man of Honor' it's my duty to arrange said Shower and I'm not nearly done yet."

"So? Just wave your wand around, cast a few quick spells, and you're done so we can play Exploding Snap."

"Sure, if I had any idea what I'm supposed to do I could do that. Gin gave me this list of things, but I don't understand anything," he frowned as he glanced at the note in his hand. The instructions on there looked closer to a cipher than actual helpful instructions.

"What you're saying is that we're not playing anything until all of this is done?" George stepped forward, took the note from Fred's hand and read it in deep concentration.

"Exactly. So get to it!"

"Right. So it says here that you need to make gift baskets, get the snacks and appetizers, the decorations and plan the music. Alice and Luna will set up the decorations tomorrow and will bring the rest of the food and drinks. Lee, you open up the fire whiskey. Pucey, start filling up a basket with these things." George delegated different tasks to the men in the room, and Fred was thankful that his twin managed to keep his head on when his own was all over the place.

Adrian looked appalled by the task. "No. No way. I'm not playing with baskets. It's Exploding Snap night!"

"Whatever mate, it's not happening until this is done."

"You can decorate and play with candles and all that. I'm going to sit right here and make fun of you. Here, I even found some sweets," Adrian said as he sat down in the armchair. grabbing a handful of the colourful content of a bowl nearby and put it in his mouth.

"That's potpourri," Fred told him and watched in satisfaction how Pucey spat it out a second later, his face twisted in disgust.

"Hey, look at me!" Lee was already busy looking through the different piles of stuff in the room. He had put on one of the sleeping masks he'd found and stumbled around, laughing with glee. "Have you ever had one of these? You can't see anything. Can I take one home? Katie mentioned that she wanted something like this a while ago."

"I'm sure she did since she's sleeping with you in her bed." George snickered and Lee retaliated by throwing one at him.

"Okay, come on. Let's do this!"

An hour later they were laughing and creatively arranging gift baskets in different ways, trying to outdo the others. By this point they were all pissed from drinking fire whiskey. So pissed that even Adrian voiced his opinion now and then. Or, rather _commented_ on what they were doing now and then. Fred was in the middle of telling them what had happened earlier in the day before tea with Hermione's mother.

"No, I'm telling you. It was horrible!" he exclaimed as he placed another item in the basket in front of him. "This old man approached us after we had just apparated, and we thought he might have seen. Mione panicked and was about to obliviate him when she recognized him as one of her mother's neighbours. He congratulated Mione on her engagement, then assumed I was the one she's engaged to. _"This one here must be the lucky young fella whom you're marrying, dear Miss. Granger"_ , to which Hermione strongly objected and corrected him. It's not as if the idea was _so_ far fetched. When she then introduced me as the chief bridesmaid, the old man said; _"Oh, but of course,"_ then continued to give me a lecture on how he _"never would understand the way the_ gays _and_ lesbians _choose to live, but could see I happy to embrace my true self"!"_ The others were now catching their breaths. "He thought I was _gay_! And Hermione did nothing but giggle the whole time afterwards."

"Oh, how I wish I could have been there to witness that!" Adrian said. Fred scowled in his direction then turned his attention back to the basket in front of him.

"How about this one?" He showed his friends his latest creation. "I've used the 'Fij-Illusion' from our 'Travellusion Candles' -line. You know, the one that creates the illusion your actually on that destination when the candle is lit? Then, we have some 'Patented Daydream Charms', one sleeping mask, one perfume, and finally a sample of the 'Wrinkle No More' cream."

"You put the 'Patented Daydream Charms' with the 'Travellusion Candles'?" George asked.

"Yes, why?"

"No, it's interesting. It's just that they both serve a similar purpose to escape reality for a bit so it could be a bit much, don't you think?"

Fred frowned at his arrangement, "Huh. I didn't even think about that…"

"Don't listen to him Fred," Lee disagreed. "I have paired the 'FijI-llusion' with 'ParIs-llusion' for that perfect blend of tropic and romance."

"I like that," George nodded in approval. "I'm adding that to my baskets as well but with 'Rome-Illusion' instead," he said and waved his wand. A few of the 'Travellusion Candles' appeared and arranged themselves in the pile of baskets George had in front of him.

"Why don't you add something fun in the mix? For example 'Fred Wasleys Basic Blaze Box' or something of the sort?" Adrian asked. He stood and admired the miniature Fred statue, another glass of fire whiskey in one hand. The mini-Frey nodded along to the idea.

"Because, Pucey, these baskets will be given to women who are all focused on the wedding at the moment. It should be romantic. Fireworks doesn't go with the theme."

Though Fred nodded in agreement to George's answer, he secretly thought that Adrian had a point. It was surprisingly fun to arrange these baskets. It gave him an outlet of his creativity that had been absent for the past couple of months, but it all felt wrong. It didn't feel like Hermione.

"You know what I like? I like your idea to put a 'Beatific Bath Bomb'-ball right in the centre there, George," Lee said. "I like it so much that I'm going to do the same only with two balls instead."

"That's a good idea. You should definitely have two balls in there." Fred snickered at the innuendo like the mature man he was.

"Perfect! Now I have the two 'Travellusion Candles', one sleeping mask, the 'Wrinkle No More' cream, one bottle of perfume, one set of the 'Everlasting Eyelashes' from your WonderWitch line, and finally the two bath bombs. See?"

Both Fred and George admired their friend's handiwork. "Wow, you've got an eye for these things, don't you Lee?"

"Yes, it would seem so," Lee answered in delight. Adrian shook his head at their enthusiasm, which George noticed. "Hey, Pucey. Come here and curl some ribbons, will you?"

"No thank you. You know, I can actually feel my sperm dying inside of me, one at a time."

"Oh shut up, and grab a basket!" Fred said and threw one at him. "Come on, it's fun!"

"I feel like going to a muggle strip club, eat some meat and get into a fight. Sounds a lot more fun than whatever this is you're doing."

George, Lee and himself laughed at their friends' obvious misery.

"It's no wonder that old man mistook you for a gay man, Fred. You should all try and find your own balls while you're at it. Maybe they're somewhere in the baskets, buried underneath the potpourri."

"There's nothing wrong about being gay and you know it, Pucey. Besides, it doesn't make one gay just because one enjoys doing things like this. It sounds to me like someone's afraid of his feminine side. Just embrace it, Pucey. It might be good for you!" To emphasize his point, George pointed his wand toward the former Slytherin and a myriad of pink, purple and silver ribbons surrounded him. Adrian yelped and tried to get free while the others howled in laughter.

"See? You're no less of a man now."

Fred finalized another one of his baskets with a pretty bow.

"Ooh, look at that one, Fred! Nice job with the fluffing!" he grinned and high-fived George and Lee. "Perfect, isn't it, my friends?"

"Superb! Can't lose with that one."

"Yes, good work!"

It continued on like that for another few hours. Just after midnight all of the baskets were done as well as the decorations - most of which they'd taken from the shop downstairs and enchanted in different colours -, and the rest of the list.

"We're all done?" George asked with a yawn and glimpsed at time. "Blimey, I need to go home to Angie and the kids. I'm surprised she hasn't floo-called to tell me to get my pretty arse home already."

"Yes, everything's just about ready. I need to prepare the snacks and appetizers for the guests but I think some chocolates, pasties should do it. I'll get some muggle sweets on the way as well. Maybe some 'Snicker Sweet Suckers' too?"

"Sounds good. No one can resist a smile with those." George agreed, then turned toward the fireplace with Lee and Adrian in tow. "Well, bye then! Have a splendid time tomorrow at the Bridal-thingy. And don't worry, I'm sure it'll work out perfectly."

"Bye, chaps! Couldn't have done it without you."

He bid them farewell then slumped down on his sofa, exhausted. The day hadn't been as glorious and perfect as he had hoped now that Collins was gone, but it had still been one of the best days in months. He had thoroughly enjoyed being creative with the baskets and everything else in preparation for the Bridal Shower, and having his friends there to help him had been great.

When he fell asleep it was with a smile on his lips.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello friends and Happy New Year to all of you!

I hope you liked this chapter! I struggled a bit with this one, just because I wasn't sure how to incorporate the Priest (reverend)-scene from the movie, but I think I figured it out.

It's fun but challenging figuring out the differences between the American wedding traditions and British ones, which is why there might be some inconsistencies from time to time. I'm trying to be as thorough as possible, but I slip up now and then. If that's the case I'll try and go back to fix it in previous and future chapters :D

Also - The reference I hinted at in the previous chapter was from the Starkid production 'Twisted'. the dialogue just before 'No one Remembers Achmed'. If you've not seen it I strongly recommend you to do so. And of course their Harry Potter Musicals 'A Very Potter Musical', 'A Very Potter Sequel', and 'A Very Potter Senior Year'.

Thank you for every read, Follow, Favourite and Review! You guys are the best!

Love,

 _RuneDraconis1080_


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